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THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC 
GIRLS 


PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  FOR  GIRLS.  A  Series  of  Papers 
by  Nineteen  Headmistresses  dealing  with  the  History, 
Curricula,  and  Aims  of  Public  Secondary  Schools  for 
Girls.  Edited  by  Sara  A.  Burstall,  Headmistress 
of  the  Manchester  High  School,  and  M.  A.  Douglas, 
Headmistress  of  the  Godolphin  School,  Salisbury. 
Crown  8vo,  4s.  6d. 

THE  DAWN  OF  CHARACTER.  A  Study  of  Child 
Life.  By  Edith  E.  Read  Mumford,  M.A.,  Cloth- 
workers'  Scholar,  Girton  College,  Cambridge,  Lecturer 
on  '  Child  Training '  at  the  Princess  Christian  Training 
College  for  Nurses,  Manchester.     Crown  8vo,  y.  bd. 

NOTES  OF  LESSONS  ON  THE  HERBARTIAN 
METHOD  (based  on  Herbart's  Plan).  By  M. 
Fennell  and  Members  of  a  Teaching  Staflf.  With  a 
Preface  by  M.  Fennell,  Lecturer  on  Education. 
Crown  8vo,  3^.  f>d. 

SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION.  ByT.  P.  Keating,  B.A., 
L.C.P.  With  an  Introduction  by  Rev.  T.  A.  Finlay, 
M. A. ,  National  University,  Dublin.  Crown  8vo,  is.  6d. 
net. 

TALKS  TO  TEACHERS  ON  PSYCHOLOGY  AND 
TO  STUDENTS  ON  SOME  OF  LIFE'S  IDEALS. 
By  William  James,  formerly  Professor  of  Philosophy 
at  Harvard  University.     Crown  Bvo,  4s.  6d, 


LONGMANS,   GREEN  AND  CO., 
London,  New  York,  Bombay  and  Calcutta. 


THE  EDUCATION  OF 
CATHOLIC  GIRLS 


JANET  ERSKINE  STUART 


WITH    A    PREFACE   BY 

THE   ARCHBISHOP    OF   WESTMINSTER 


NEW  IMPRESSION 


LONGMANS,    GREEN    AND    CO. 

39  PATERNOSTER  ROW,  LONDON 
NEW  YORK,  BOMBAY  AND  GAJ^CUTTA 


Ilihil  (S)b0tat: 

F.  THOS.  BERGH,  O.S.B. 


3Em^mmatttr : 

►I^FRANCISCUS  ARCHIEPtJs  WESTMONAST. 

die  21  Aprilis,  1911. 


PREFACE 

We  have  had  many  treatises  on  education 
in  recent  years ;  many  regulations  have  been 
issued  by  Government  Departments ;  enor- 
mous sums  of  money  are  contributed  annually 
from  private  and  public  sources  for  the  im- 
provement and  development  of  education. 
Are  the  results  in  any  degree  proportioned 
to  all  these  repeated  and  accumulated  efforts  ? 
It  would  not  be  easy  to  find  one,  with  prac- 
tical experience  of  education,  ready  to  give  an 
unhesitatingly  affirmative  answer.  And  the 
explanation  of  the  disappointing  result  obtained 
is  very  largely  to  be  found  in  the  neglect  of 
the  training  of  the  will  and  character,  which  is 
the  foundation  of  all  true  education.  The  pro- 
grammes of  Government,  the  gi'ants  made  if 
certain  conditions  are  fulfilled,  the  recognition 
accorded  to  a  school  if  it  conforms  to  a  certain 
type,  these  things  may  have  raised  the  standard 
of  teaching,  and  forced  attention  to  subjects 


Ti  PREFACE 

of  learning  which  were  neglected ;  they  have 
done  little  to  promote  education  in  the  real 
sense  of  the  term.  Nay,  more  than  this,  the 
insistence  on  certain  types  of  instruction  which 
they  have  compelled  has  in  too  many  cases 
paralysed  the  efforts  of  teachers  who  in  their 
hearts  were  striving  after  a  better  way. 

The  effect  on  some  of  our  Catholic  schools 
of  the  newer  methods  has  not  been  free  from 
harm.  Compelled  by  force  of  circumstances, 
parental  or  financial,  to  throw  themselves  into 
the  current  of  modern  educational  effort,  they 
have  at  the  same  time  been  obliged  to  abandon 
the  quieter  traditional  ways  which,  while  mak- 
ing less  display,  left  a  deeper  impress  on  the 
character  of  their  pupils.  Others  have  had  the 
coiu'age  to  cling  closely  to  hallowed  methods 
built  up  on  the  wisdom  and  experience  of  the 
past,  and  have  united  with  them  all  that  was 
not  contradictory  in  recent  educational  require- 
ments. They  may,  thereby,  have  seemed  to 
some  wanting  in  sympathy  with  the  present, 
and  attaching  too  great  value  to  the  past.  The 
test  of  time  will  probably  show  that  they  have 
given  to  both  past  and  present  an  equal  share 
in  their  consideration. 

It  will  certainly  be  of  singular  advantage  to 
those   who  are  engaged  in  the  education  of 


PREFACE  vil 

Catholic  girls  to  have  before  them  a  treatise 
written  by  one  who  has  had  a  long  and  in- 
timate experience  of  the  work  of  which  she 
writes.  Loyal  in  every  word  to  the  soundest 
traditions  of  Catholic  education,  the  wi'iter  re- 
cognizes to  the  full  that  the  world  into  which 
Catholic  girls  pass  nowadays  on  leaving  school 
is  not  the  world  of  a  hundred,  or  of  fifty,  or  of 
even  thirty  years  ago.  But  this  recognition 
brings  out,  more  clearly  than  anything  else 
could  do,  the  gi-eat  and  unchanging  fact  that 
the  formation  of  heart  and  will  and  character 
is,  and  must  be  always,  the  very  root  of  the 
education  of  a  child ;  and  it  also  shows  forth 
the  new  fact  that  at  no  time  has  that  formation 
been  more  needed  than  at  the  present  day. 

The  pages  of  this  book  are  well  worthy  of 
careful  pondering  and  consideration,  and  they 
will  be  of  special  value  both  to  parents  and  to 
teachers,  for  it  is  in  their  hands  and  in  their 
united,  and  not  opposing  action,  that  the  edu- 
cational fate  of  the  children  lies. 

But  I  trust  that  the  thoughts  set  forth  upon 
these  pages  will  not  escape  either  the  eyes  or 
the  thoughts  of  those  who  are  the  public 
custodians  and  arbiters  of  education  in  this 
country.  The  State  is  daily  becoming  more 
jealous  in  its  control  of  educational  effort  in 


viii  PREFACE 

England.  Would  that  its  wisdom  were  equal 
to  its  jealousy.  We  might  then  be  delivered 
from  the  repeated  attempts  to  hamper  definite 
religious  teaching  in  secondary  schools,  by  the 
refusal  of  public  aid  where  the  intention  to 
impart  it  is  publicly  announced  ;  and  from  the 
discouragement  continually  arising  from  regula- 
tions evidently  inspired  by  those  who  have  no 
personal  experience  of  the  work  to  be  accom- 
plished, and  who  decline  to  seek  information 
from  those  to  whom  such  work  is  their  very 
life.  It  cannot,  surely,  be  for  the  good  of 
our  country  that  the  stored-up  experience  of 
educational  effort  of  every  type  should  be  dis- 
regarded in  favour  of  rigid  rules  and  pro- 
grammes ;  or  that  zeal  and  devotion  in  the 
work  of  education  are  to  be  regarded  as  value- 
less unless  they  be  associated  with  so-called 
undenominational  religion.  The  Catholic 
Church  in  this  and  in  every  country  has  cen- 
turies of  educational  tradition  in  her  keeping. 
She  has  no  more  ardent  wish  than  to  place  it 
all  most  generously  at  the  service  of  the  com- 
monwealth, and  to  take  her  place  in  every 
movement  that  will  be  to  the  real  advantage  of 
the  children  upon  whom  the  future  of  the 
world  depends.  And  we  have  just  ground  for 
complaint  when  the  conditions  on  which  alone 


PREFACE  ix 

our  co-operation  will  be  allowed  are  of  such  a 
character  as  to  make  it  evident  that  we  are  not 
intended  to  have  any  real  place  in  the  educa- 
tion of  our  country. 

May  this  treatise  so  ably  written  be  a  source 
of  guidance  and  encouragement  to  those  who 
are  giving  their  lives  to  the  education  of 
Catholic  children,  and  at  the  same  time  do 
something  to  dispel  the  distrust  and  to  over- 
come the  hostility  shown  in  high  quarters 
towards  every  Catholic  educational  endeavour. 

»J«  FRANCIS  ARCHBISHOP  OF  WESTMINSTER. 


CONTENTS 


PAOl 

Pbbfacb V 

INTBODUCTION XV 

OHAF. 

I.  Bbuqion 1 

II.  Chabactsb.    1 21 

III.  Chabactbb.    II 45 

IV.  The  Elements  op  Catholic  Philosophy     .        .  60 
V.  The  Realities  of  Life 76 

VI.  Lmsohb  and  Play 95 

VII.  Mathematics,   Natubal   Science,   and  Natube 

Study 114 

Vm.  English 127 

IX.  MoDEBN  Languages 150 

X.  HiSTOBY 164 

XI.  Abt 182 

XII.  Mannees 198 

XIII.  Higheb  Education  op  Women      ....  214 

XIV.  Conclusion 229 

Appendix  I 233 

Appendix  II 238 


Fair  though  it  be,  to  watch  unclose 
The  nestling  gloriea  of  a  rose, 
Depth  on  rich  depth,  soft  fold  on  fold : 
Though  fairer  be  it,  to  behold 
Stately  and  sceptral  lilies  break 
To  beauty,  and  to  sweetness  wake : 
Yet  fairer  still,  to  see  and  sing, 
One  fair  thing  is,  one  matchless  thing : 
Youth,  in  its  perfect  blossoming. 

LIONEL  JOHNSON. 


xiU 


INTRODUCTION 

A  BOOK  was  published  in  the  United  States  in 
1910  with  the  title,  Education  :  How  Old  The 
New.  a  companion  volume  might  be  written 
with  a  similar  title,  Education  :  How  New 
The  Old,  and  it  would  only  exhibit  another 
aspect  of  the  same  truth. 

This  does  not  pretend  to  be  that  possible 
companion  volume,  but  to  present  a  point  of 
view  which  owes  something  both  to  old  and 
new,  and  to  make  an  appeal  for  the  education 
of  Catholic  girls  to  have  its  distinguishing 
features  recognized  and  freely  developed  in 
view  of  ultimate  rather  than  immediate  results. 


mr 


CHAPTEB  I. 

EELIGION. 

"  Oh  !  say  not^  dream  not,  heavenly  notes 

To  childish  ears  are  vain. 
That  the  young  mind  at  random  floats. 

And  cannot  reach  the  strain. 

Dim  or  unheard,  the  words  may  fall. 

And  vAt  tliA  TIarv An .1^.11  orhf.  minH 


EBBATA. 

Page  21,  line    i,  "  int^rieurea  "  should  be  "int^rieurs' 
„  141,    „    14,  "  forgotten  "  should  be  "  forgotten  ". 


ijcuuaiL±ua  ^.^v^v^l/u  uu.\^  vycsuixwiio  iL/v/uy    nr-,r-. 1 1 1  UKJ  llOiVC   a  fJlCiliL 

notion  of  what  they  actually  want  to  teach,  when  the 
right  has  been  secured.  It  is  not  the  controversy  but 
the  fruits  of  it  that  are  here  in  question,  the  echoes  of 
battle  and  rumours  of  wars  serve  to  enhance  the  im- 
portance of  the  matter,  the  duty  of  making  it  all  worth 
while,  and  using  to  the  best  advantage  the  oppor- 
tunities which  are  secured  at  the  price  of  so  many 
conflicts. 

The  duty  is  twofold,  to  God  and  to  His  children. 
God,  who  entrusts  to  us  their  religious  education,  has 
a  right  to  be  set  before  them  as  truly,  as  nobly,  as 


CHAPTEK  I. 

RELIGION. 

"  Oh  !  say  not,  dream  not,  heavenly  notes 

To  childish  ears  are  vain. 
That  the  young  mind  at  random  floats. 

And  cannot  reach  the  strain. 

Dim  or  unheard,  the  words  may  fall. 
And  yet  the  Heaven-taught  mind 

May  learn  the  sacred  air,  and  all 
The  harmony  unwind." 

Keble. 

The  principal  educational  controversies  of  the  present 
day  rage  round  the  teaching  of  religion  to  children, 
but  they  are  more  concerned  with  the  right  to  teach 
it  than  with  what  is  taught,  in  fact  none  of  the  com- 
batants except  the  Catholic  body  seem  to  have  a  clear 
notion  of  what  they  actually  want  to  teach,  when  the 
right  has  been  secured.  It  is  not  the  controversy  but 
the  fruits  of  it  that  are  here  in  question,  the  echoes  of 
battle  and  rumours  of  wars  serve  to  enhance  the  im- 
portance of  the  matter,  the  duty  of  making  it  all  worth 
while,  and  using  to  the  best  advantage  the  oppor- 
tunities which  are  secured  at  the  price  of  so  many 
conflicts. 

The  duty  is  twofold,  to  God  and  to  His  children. 
God,  who  entrusts  to  us  their  religious  education,  has 
a  right  to  be  set  before  them  as  truly,  as  nobly,  as 


2  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

worthily  as  our  capacity  allows,  as  beautifully  as 
human  language  can  convey  the  mysteries  of  faith, 
with  the  quietness  and  confidence  of  those  who  know 
and  are  not  afraid,  and  filial  pride  in  the  Christian 
inheritance  which  is  ours.  The  child  has  a  right  to 
learn  the  best  that  it  can  know  of  God,  since  the 
happiness  of  its  life,  not  only  in  eternity  but  even  in 
time,  is  bound  up  in  that  knowledge.  Most  grievous 
wrong  has  been  done,  and  is  still  done,  to  children  by 
well-meaning  but  misguided  efforts  to  "  make  them 
good  "  by  dwelling  on  the  vengeance  taken  by  God 
upon  the  wicked,  on  the  possibilities  of  wickedness  in 
the  youngest  child.  Their  impressionable  minds  are 
quite  ready  to  take  alarm,  they  are  so  small,  and  every 
experience  is  so  new  ;  there  are  so  many  great  forces 
at  work  which  can  be  dimly  guessed  at,  and  to  their 
vivid  imaginations  who  can  say  what  may  happen 
next?  If  the  first  impressions  of  God  conveyed  to 
them  are  gloomy  and  terrible,  a  shadow  may  be  cast 
over  the  mind  so  far-reaching  that  perhaps  a  whole 
hfetime  may  not  carry  them  beyond  it.  They  hear 
of  a  sleepless  Eye  that  ever  watches,  to  see  them  doing 
wrong,  an  Eye  from  which  they  cannot  escape. 
There  is  the  Judge  of  awful  severity  who  admits  no 
excuse,  who  pursues  with  relentless  perseverance  to 
the  very  end  and  whose  resources  for  punishment  are 
inexhaustible.  What  wonder  if  a  daring  and  defiant 
spirit  turns  at  last  and  stands  at  bay  against  the  re- 
sistless Avenger,  and  if  in  later  years  the  practical 
result  is — "  if  we  may  not  escape,  let  us  try  to  forget," 
or  the  drifting  of  a  whole  life  into  indifference,  languor 
of  will,  and  pessimism  that  border  on  despair. 


RELIGION  3 

Parents  could  not  bear  to  be  so  misrepresented  to 
their  children,  and  what  condemnation  would  be 
sufficient  for  teachers  who  would  turn  the  hearts  of 
children  against  their  father,  poisoning  the  very 
springs  of  hfe.  Yet  this  wrong  is  done  to  God.  In 
general,  children  taught  by  their  own  parents  do  not 
suffer  so  much  from  these  misrepresentations  of  God, 
as  those  who  have  been  left  with  servants  and  igno- 
rant teachers,  themselves  warped  by  a  wrong  early 
training.  Fathers  and  mothers  must  have  within 
themselves  too  much  intuition  of  the  Fatherhood  of 
God,  not  to  give  another  tone  to  their  teaching,  and 
probably  it  is  from  fathers  and  mothers,  as  they  are 
in  themselves  sjmabols  of  God's  almighty  power  and 
unmeasured  love,  that  the  first  ideas  of  Him  can  best 
reach  the  minds  of  little  children. 

But  it  is  rare  that  circumstances  admit  the  continu- 
ance of  this  best  instruction.  For  one  reason  or  an- 
other children  pass  on  to  other  teachers  and,  except 
for  what  can  be  given  directly  by  the  clergy,  must 
depend  on  them  for  further  religious  instruction. 
This  further  teaching,  covering,  say,  eight  years  of 
school  life,  ten  to  eighteen,  falls  more  or  less  into  two 
periods,  one  in  which  the  essentials  of  Christian  life 
and  doctrine  have  to  be  learned,  the  other  in  which 
more  direct  preparation  may  be  made  for  the  warfare 
of  faith  which  must  be  encountered  when  the  years  of 
school  life  are  over.  It  is  a  great  stewardship  to  be 
entrusted  with  the  training  of  God's  royal  family  of 
children,  during  these  years  on  which  their  after  life 
almost  entirely  depends,  and  "  it  is  required  among 
stewards  that  a  man  may  be  found  faithful  ".     For 

1* 


4  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

other  branches  of  teaching  it  is  more  easy  to  ascertain 
that  the  necessary  qualifications  are  not  wanting, 
but  in  this  the  qualifications  lie  so  deeply  hidden  be- 
tween God  and  the  conscience  that  they  must  often 
be  taken  for  granted,  and  the  responsibility  lies  all  the 
more  directly  with  the  teacher  who  has  to  live  the 
life,  as  well  as  to  know  the  truth,  and  love  both  truth 
and  life  in  order  to  make  them  loved.  These  are 
qualifications  that  are  never  attained,  because  they 
must  always  be  in  process  of  attainment,  only  one 
who  is  constantly  growing  in  grace  and  love  and  know- 
ledge can  give  the  true  appreciation  of  what  that  grace 
and  love  and  knowledge  are,  in  their  bearing  on  human 
life,  to  be  rather  than  to  know  is  therefore  a  primary 
qualification.  Inseparably  bound  up  with  it  is  the 
thinking  right  thoughts  concerning  what  is  to  be 
taught. 

1.  To  have  right  thoughts  of  God.  It  would  seem  to 
be  too  obvious  to  need  statement,  yet  experience  shows 
that  this  fundamental  necessity  is  not  always  secure, 
far  from  it.  It  is  not  often  put  into  words,  but  traces 
may  be  found  only  too  easily  of  foundations  of  religion 
laid  in  thoughts  of  God  that  are  unworthy  of  our  faith. 
Whence  can  they  have  come?  Doubtless  in  great 
measure  from  the  subtle  spirit  of  Jansenism  which 
spread  so  widely  in  its  day  and  is  so  hard  to  outlive — 
from  remains  of  the  still  darker  spirit  of  Calvinism 
which  hangs  about  convert  teachers  of  a  rigid  school — 
from  vehement  and  fervid  spiritual  writers,  addressing 
themselves  to  the  needs  of  other  times — perhaps  most 
of  all  from  the  old  lie  which  was  from  the  beginning, 
the  deep  mistrust  of  God  which  is  the  greatest  triumph 


RELIGION  6 

of  His  enemy.  God  is  set  forth  as  if  He  were  en- 
compassed with  human  limitations — the  fiery  imagery 
of  the  Old  Testament  pressed  into  the  service  of 
modern  and  western  minds,  until  He  is  made  to  seem 
pitiless,  revengeful,  exacting,  lying  in  wait  to  catch 
His  creatures  in  fault,  and  awaiting  them  at  death  with 
terrible  surprises. 

But  this  is  not  what  the  Church  and  the  Gospels 
have  to  say  about  Him  to  the  children  of  the  kingdom. 
If  we  could  put  into  words  our  highest  ideals  of  all 
that  is  most  lovely  and  lovable,  beautiful,  tender, 
gracious,  liberal,  strong,  constant,  patient,  unweary- 
ing, add  what  we  can,  multiply  it  a  million  times, 
tire  out  our  imagination  beyond  it,  and  then  say  that 
it  is  nothing  to  what  He  is,  that  it  is  the  weakest  ex- 
pression of  His  goodness  and  beauty,  we  shall  give  a 
poor  idea  of  God  indeed,  but  at  least,  as  far  as  it  goes, 
it  will  be  true,  and  it  will  lead  to  trustfulness  and 
friendship,  to  a  right  attitude  of  mind,  as  child  to 
father,  and  creature  to  Creator.  We  speak  as  we 
believe,  there  is  an  accent  of  sincerity  that  carries 
conviction,  if  we  speak  of  God  as  we  believe,  and  if 
we  believe  truly,  we  shall  speak  of  Him  largely, 
trustfully,  and  happily  whether  in  the  dogmas  of  our 
faith,  or  as  we  find  His  traces  and  glorious  attributes 
in  the  world  around  us,  as  we  consider  the  lilies  of 
the  field  and  the  birds  of  the  air,  or  as  we  track  with 
reverent  and  unprecipitate  following  the  line  of  His 
providential  government  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

The  need  of  right  thoughts  of  God  is  also  deeply 
felt  on  the  side  of  our  relations  to  Him,  and  that 
especially  in  our  democratic  times  when  sovereignty 


6  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

is  losing  its  meaning.  There  are  free  and  easy  ideas 
of  God,  as  if  man  might  criticize  and  question  and  call 
Him  to  account,  and  have  his  say  on  the  doings  of 
the  Creator.  It  is  not  explanation  or  apology  that 
answer  these,  but  a  right  thought  of  God  makes  them 
impossible,  and  this  right  thought  can  only  be  given 
if  we  have  it  ourselves.  The  Fatherhood  of  God  and 
the  Sovereignty  of  God  are  foundations  of  belief  which 
complete  one  another,  and  bear  up  all  the  superstruc- 
ture of  a  child's  understanding  of  Christian  life. 

2.  Eight  ideas  of  ourselves  and  of  our  destiny.  It 
is  a  pity  that  evil  instead  of  good  is  made  a  prominent 
feature  of  religious  teaching.  To  be  haunted  by  the 
thought  of  evil  and  the  dread  of  losing  our  soul,  as 
if  it  were  a  danger  threatening  us  at  every  step,  is 
not  the  most  inspiring  ideal  of  life ;  quiet,  steady,  un- 
imaginative fear  and  watchfulness  is  harder  to  teach, 
but  gives  a  stronger  defence  against  sin  than  an  ever 
present  terror ;  while  all  that  belongs  to  hope  awakens 
a  far  more  effective  response  to  good.  Some  realiza- 
tion of  our  high  destiny  as  heirs  of  heaven  is  the 
strongest  hold  that  the  average  character  can  have  to 
give  steadiness  in  prosperity  and  courage  in  adversity. 
Chosen  souls  will  rise  higher  than  this,  but  if  the 
average  can  reach  so  far  as  this  they  will  do  well. 

8.  Eight  ideas  of  sin  and  evil.  It  is  possible  on 
the  one  hand  to  give  such  imperfect  ideas  of  right 
and  wrong  that  all  is  measured  by  the  mere  selfish 
standard  of  personal  security.  The  frightened  ques- 
tion about  some  childish  wrong-doing — "  is  it  a  mor- 
tal sin  ?  "  often  indicates  that  fear  of  punishment 
is  the  only  aspect  under  which  sin  appears  to  the 


RELIGION  7 

mind;  while  a  satisfied  tone  in  saying  "it  is  only  a 
venial  sin  "  looks  like  a  desire  to  see  what  liberties 
may  be  taken  with  God  without  involving  too  serious 
consequences  to  self.  "It  is  wrong"  ought  to  be 
enough,  and  the  less  children  talk  of  mortal  sin  the 
better — to  talk  of  it,  to  discuss  with  them  whether  this 
or  that  is  a  mortal  sin,  accustoms  them  to  the  idea. 
When  they  know  well  the  conditions  which  make  a 
sin  grave  without  illustrations  by  example  which  are 
likely  to  obscure  the  subject  rather  than  clear  it  up, 
when  their  ideas  of  right  and  duty  and  obligation  are 
clear,  when  "  I  ought  "  has  a  real  meaning  for  them, 
we  shall  have  a  stronger  type  of  character  than  that 
which  is  formed  on  detailed  considerations  of  differ- 
ent degrees  of  guilt. 

On  the  other  hajid  it  is  possible  to  confuse  and  tor- 
ment children  by  stories  of  the  exquisite  delicacy  of 
the  consciences  of  the  saints,  as  St.  Aloysius,  setting 
before  them  a  standard  that  is  beyond  their  compre- 
hension or  their  degree  of  grace,  and  making  them 
miserable  because  they  cannot  conform  to  it. 

It  is  a  great  safeguard  against  sin  to  realize  that 
duty  must  be  done,  at  any  cost,  and  that  Christianity 
means  self-denial  and  taking  up  the  cross. 

4.  Eight  thoughts  of  the  four  last  things.  True 
thoughts  of  death  are  not  hard  for  children  to  grasp, 
to  their  unspoiled  faith  it  is  a  simple  and  joyful  thing 
to  go  to  God.  Later  on  the  dreary  pageantry  and  the 
averted  face  of  the  world  from  that  which  is  indeed  its 
doom  obscure  the  Christian  idea,  and  the  mind  slips 
back  to  pagan  grief,  as  if  there  were  no  life  to  come. 

Eight  thoughts  of  judgment  are  not  so  hard  to  give 


8  THE  EDtJCATlON  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

if  the  teaching  is  sincere  and  simple,  free  from  exag- 
gerations and  phantoms  of  dread,  and  on  the  other 
hand  clear  from  an  incredulous  protest  against  God's 
holding  man  responsible  for  his  acts. 

But  to  give  right  thoughts  of  hell  and  heaven  taxes 
the  best  resources  of  those  who  wish  to  lay  founda- 
tions well,  for  they  are  to  be  foundations  for  life,  and 
the  two  lessons  belong  together,  corner-stones  of  the 
building,  to  stand  in  view  as  long  as  it  shall  stand  and 
never  to  be  forgotten. 

The  two  lessons  belong  together  as  the  final  destiny 
of  man,  fixed  by  his  own  act,  this  or  that  And  they 
have  to  be  taught  with  all  the  force  and  gravity  and 
dignity  which  befits  the  subject,  and  in  such  a  way 
that  after-years  will  find  nothing  to  smile  at  and  no- 
thing to  unlearn.  They  have  to  be  taught  as  the 
mind  of  the  present  time  can  best  apprehend  them, 
not  according  to  the  portraiture  of  mediaeval  pictures, 
but  in  a  language  perhaps  not  more  true  and  adequate 
in  itself  but  less  boisterous  and  more  comprehensible  to 
our  self-conscious  and  introspective  moods.  Father 
Faber's  treatment  of  these  last  things,  hell  and  heaven, 
would  furnish  matter  for  instruction  not  beyond  the 
understanding  of  those  in  their  last  years  at  school, 
and  of  a  kind  which  if  understood  must  leave  a  mark 
upon  the  mind  for  life.  ^ 

5.  Eight  views  of  Jesus  Christ  and  His  mother. 
For  Catholic  children  this  relationship  is  not  a  thing 
far  off,  but  the  faith  which  teaches  them  of  God  In- 
carnate bids  them  also  understand  that  He  is  their 
own  "  God  who  gives  joy  to  their  youth" — and  that 

'  See  Appendix  I. 


RELIGION  0 

His  mother  is  also  theirs.  There  are  many  incom- 
prehensible things  in  which  children  are  taught  to 
affirm  their  belief,  and  the  acts  of  faith  in  which  they 
recite  these  truths  are  far  beyond  their  understanding. 
But  they  can  and  do  understand  if  we  take  pains  to 
teach  them  that  they  are  loved  by  Our  Lord  each  one 
alone,  intimately  and  personally,  and  asked  to  love  in 
return.  "  Suffer  the  httle  children  to  come  unto  Me, 
and  forbid  them  not,  "  is  not  for  them  a  distant  echo 
of  what  was  heard  long  ago  in  the  Holy  Land,  it  is 
no  story,  but  a  living  reality  of  to-day.  They  are 
themselves  the  children  who  are  invited  to  come  to 
Him,  better  off  indeed  than  those  first  called,  since 
they  are  not  now  rebuked  or  kept  off  by  the  Apostles 
but  brought  to  the  front  and  given  the  first  places, 
invited  by  order  of  His  Vicar  from  their  earliest  years 
to  receive  the  Bread  of  Heaven,  and  giving  delight 
to  His  representatives  on  earth  by  accepting  the  in- 
vitation. 

It  is  the  reality  as  contrasted  with  the  story  that  is 
the  prerogative  of  the  Catholic  child.  Jesus  and 
Mary  are  real,  and  are  its  own  closest  kin,  all  but 
visible,  at  moments  intensely  felt  as  present.  They 
are  there  in  joy  and  in  trouble,  when  every  one  else 
fails  in  understanding  or  looks  displeased  there  is  this 
refuge,  there  is  this  love  which  always  forgives,  and 
sets  things  right,  and  to  whom  nothing  is  unimpor- 
tant or  without  interest.  Companionship  in  loneli- 
ness, comfort  in  trouble,  relief  in  distress,  endurance 
in  pain  are  all  to  be  found  in  them.  With  Jesus  and 
Mary  what  is  there  in  the  whole  world  of  which  a 
Catholic  child  should  be  afraid.     And  this  glorious 


10          THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

strength  of  theirs  made  perfect  in  child-martyrs  in 
many  ages  will  make  them  again  child-martyrs  now 
if  need  be,  or  confessors  of  the  holy  faith  as  they  are 
not  seldom  called  upon,  even  now,  to  show  themselves. 

There  is  a  strange  indomitable  courage  in  children 
which  has  its  deep  springs  in  these  Divine  things ;  the 
strength  which  they  find  in  Holy  Communion  and  in 
their  love  for  Jesus  and  Mary  is  enough  to  overcome 
in  them  all  weakness  and  fear. 

6.  Eight  thoughts  of  the  faith  and  practice  of 
Christian  life.  And  here  it  is  necessary  to  guard 
against  what  is  childish,  visionary,  and  exuberant, 
against  things  that  only  feed  the  fancy  or  excite  the 
imagination,  against  practices  which  are  adapted  to 
other  races  than  ours,  but  with  us  are  liable  to  be- 
come unreal  and  irreverent,  against  too  vivid  sense 
impressions  and  especially  against  attaching  too  much 
importance  to  them,  against  grotesque  and  puerile 
forms  of  piety,  which  drag  down  the  beautiful  de- 
votions to  the  saints  until  they  are  treated  as  inhabi- 
tants of  a  superior  kind  of  doll's  house,  rewarded  and 
punished,  scolded  and  praised,  endowed  with  pet 
names,  and  treated  so  as  to  become  objects  of  ridicule 
to  those  who  do  not  reali2;e  that  these  extravagances 
may  be  in  other  countries  natural  forms  of  peasant 
piety  when  the  grace  of  intimacy  with  the  saints  has 
run  wild.  In  northern  countries  a  greater  sobriety 
of  devotion  is  required  if  it  is  to  have  any  permanent 
influence  on  life. 

But  again,  on  the  other  hand,  the  more  restrained 
devotion  must  not  lose  its  spontaneity ;  so  long  as  it 
is  the  true  expression  of  faith  it  can  hardly  be  too 


RELIGION  11 

simple,  it  can  never  be  too  intimate  a  part  of 
common  life.  Noble  friendships  with  the  saints  in 
glory  are  one  of  the  most  effectual  means  of  learning 
heavenly-mindedness,  and  friendships  formed  in  child- 
hood will  last  through  a  lifetime.  To  find  a  char- 
acter like  one's  own  which  has  fought  the  same  fight 
and  been  crowned,  is  an  encouragement  which  obtains 
great  victories,  and  to  enter  into  the  thoughts  of  the 
saints  is  to  qualify  oneself  here  below  for  intercourse 
with  the  citizens  of  heaven. 

To  be  well  grounded  in  the  elements  of  faith,  and 
to  have  been  so  taught  that  the  practice  of  religion 
has  become  the  atmosphere  of  a  happy  life,  to  have 
the  habit  of  sanctifying  daily  duties,  joys,  and  trials 
by  the  thought  of  God,  and  a  firm  resolve  that 
nothing  shall  be  allowed  to  draw  the  soul  away  from 
Him,  such  is,  broadly  speaking,  the  aim  we  may  set 
before  ourselves  for  the  end  of  the  years  of  childhood, 
after  which  must  follow  the  more  difficult  years  of 
the  training  of  youth. 

The  time  has  gone  by  when  the  faith  of  childhood 
might  be  carried  through  life  and  be  assailed  by  no 
questionings  from  without.  A  faith  that  is  not  armed 
and  ready  for  conflict  stands  a  poor  chance  of  passing 
victoriously  through  its  trials,  it  cannot  hope  to 
escape  from  being  tried.  "  We  have  laboured  suc- 
cessfully," wrote  a  leading  Jewish  Freemason  in 
Rome  addressing  his  Brotherhood,  "  in  the  great 
cities  and  among  the  young  men ;  it  remains  for  us 
to  carry  out  the  work  in  the  country  districts  and 
amongst  the  women."  Words  could  not  be  plainer 
to  show  what  awaits  the  faith  of  children  when  they 


12         THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

come  out  into  the  world ;  and  even  in  countries  where 
the  aim  is  not  so  clearly  set  forth  the  current  of 
opinion  mostly  sets  against  the  faith,  the  current  of 
the  world  invariably  does  so.  For  faith  to  hold  on 
its  course  against  all  that  tends  to  carry  it  away,  it 
is  needful  that  it  should  not  be  found  unprepared. 
The  minds  of  the  young  cannot  expect  to  be  carried 
along  by  a  Catholic  public  opinion,  there  will  be  few 
to  help  them,  and  they  must  learn  to  stand  by  them- 
selves, to  answer  for  themselves,  to  be  challenged  and 
not  afraid  to  speak  out  for  their  faith,  to  be  able  to 
give  "first  aid"  to  unsettled  minds  and  not  allow 
their  own  to  be  unsettled  by  what  they  hear.  They 
must  learn  that,  as  Father  Dalgairns  points  out,  their 
position  in  the  world  is  far  more  akin  to  that  of 
Christians  in  the  first  centuries  of  the  Church  than 
to  the  life  that  was  lived  in  the  middle  ages  when 
the  Church  visibly  ruled  over  public  opinion.  Now, 
as  in  the  earliest  ages,  the  faithful  stand  in  small 
assemblies  or  as  individuals  amid  cold  or  hostile 
surroundings,  and  individual  faith  and  sanctity  are 
the  chief  means  of  extending  the  kingdom  of  God 
on  earth. 

But  this  apostleship  needs  preparation  and  train- 
ing. The  early  teaching  requires  to  be  seasoned  and 
hardened  to  withstand  the  influences  which  tend 
to  dissolve  faith  and  piety ;  by  this  seasoning  faith 
must  be  enlightened,  and  piety  become  serene  and 
grave,  "sedate,"  as  St.  Francis  of  Sales  would  say 
with  beautiful  commentary.  In  the  last  years  of 
school  or  school-room  life  the  mind  has  to  be  gradu- 
ally inured  to  the  harder  life,  to  the  duty  of  defending 


RELIGION  13 

as  well  as  adorning  the  faith,  and  to  gain  at  least 
some  idea  of  the  enemies  against  which  defence  must 
be  made.  It  is  something  even  to  know  what  is  in 
the  air  and  what  may  be  expected  that  the  first 
surprise  may  not  disturb  the  balance  of  the  mind. 
To  know  that  in  the  Church  there  have  been  sorrows 
and  scandals,  without  the  promises  of  Christ  having 
failed,  and  even  that  it  had  to  be  so,  fulfilling  His 
word,  "it  must  needs  be  that  scandals  come"  (St. 
Matthew  xviii.  7),  that  they  are  therefore  rather 
a  confirmation  than  a  stumbling-block  to  our  faith, 
this  is  a  necessary  safeguard.  To  have  some  unpre- 
tentious knowledge  of  what  is  said  and  thought  con- 
cerning Holy  Scripture,  to  know  at  least  something 
about  Modernism  and  other  phases  of  current  opinion 
is  necessary,  without  making  a  study  of  their  sub- 
tilties,  for  the  most  insecure  attitude  of  mind  for 
girls  is  to  think  they  know,  in  these  difficult  questions, 
and  the  best  safeguard  both  of  their  faith  and  good 
sense  is  intellectual  modesty.  Without  making  ac- 
quaintance in  detail  with  the  phenomena  of  spiritual- 
ism and  kindred  arts  or  sciences,  it  is  needful  to  know 
in  a  plain  and  general  way  why  they  are  forbidden 
by  the  Church,  and  also  to  know  how  those  who  have 
lost  their  balance  and  peace  of  mind  in  these  pursuits 
would  willingly  draw  back,  but  find  it  next  to  impos- 
sible to  free  themselves  from  the  servitude  in  which 
they  are  entangled.  It  is  hard  for  some  minds  to 
resist  the  restless  temptation  to  feel,  to  see,  to  test 
and  handle  all  that  life  can  offer  of  strange  and 
mysterious  experiences,  and  next  to  the  curb  of  duty 
comes  the  safeguard  of  greatly  valuing  freedom  of  mind. 


14  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

Curiosity  concerning  evil  or  dangerous  knowledge  is 
more  impetuous  when  a  sudden  emancipation  of  mind 
sweeps  the  old  landmarks  and  restraints  out  of  sight, 
and  nothing  has  been  foreseen  which  can  serve  as  a 
guide.  Then  is  the  time  when  weak  places  in  educa- 
tion show  themselves,  when  the  least  insincerity  in 
the  presentment  of  truth  brings  its  own  punishment, 
and  a  faith  not  pillared  and  grounded  in  all  honesty 
is  in  danger  of  failing.  The  best  security  is  to  have 
nothing  to  unlearn,  to  know  that  what  one  knows  is 
a  very  small  part  of  what  can  be  known,  but  that  as 
far  as  it  goes  it  is  true  and  genuine,  and  cannot  be 
outgrown,  that  it  will  stand  both  the  wear  of  time 
and  the  test  of  growing  power  of  thought,  and  that 
those  who  have  taught  these  beliefs  will  never  have 
to  retract  or  be  ashamed  of  them,  or  own  that  they 
were  passed  oS,  though  inadequate,  upon  the  minds 
of  children. 

It  is  not  unusual  to  meet  girls  who  are  troubled 
with  "  doubts  "  as  to  faith  and  difficulties  which  alarm 
both  them  and  their  friends.  Sometimes  when  these 
"doubts  "  are  put  into  words  they  turn  out  to  be  mere 
difficulties,  and  it  has  not  been  understood  that  "  ten 
thousand  difficulties  do  not  make  a  doubt".  Some- 
times the  difficulties  are  scarcely  real,  and  come  simply 
from  catching  up  objections  which  they  do  not  know 
how  to  answer,  and  think  unanswerable.  Sometimes 
a  spirit  of  contradiction  has  been  aroused,  and  a 
captious  tendency,  or  a  love  of  excitement  and  sensa- 
tionalism, with  a  wish  to  see  the  other  side.  Some- 
times imperfect  teaching  has  led  them  to  expect  the 
realization  of  things  as  seen,  which  are  only  to  be 


RELIGION  16 

assented  to  as  believed,  so  that  there  is  a  hopeless  effort 
to  imagine,  to  feel,  and  to  feel  sure,  to  lean  in  some 
way  upon  what  the  senses  can  verify,  and  the  acqui- 
escence, assent,  and  assurance  of  faith  seems  all  insuf- 
ficient to  give  security.  Sometimes  there  is  genuine 
ignorance  of  what  is  to  be  believed,  and  of  what  it  is 
to  believe.  Sometimes  it  is  merely  a  question  of 
nerves,  a  want  of  tone  in  the  mind,  insufficient  oc- 
cupation and  training  which  has  thrown  the  mind 
back  upon  itself  to  its  own  confusion.  Sometimes 
they  come  from  want  of  understanding  that  there 
must  be  mysteries  in  faith,  and  a  multitude  of  ques- 
tions that  do  not  admit  of  complete  answers,  that 
God  would  not  be  God  if  the  measure  of  our  minds 
could  compass  His,  that  the  course  of  His  Providence 
must  transcend  our  experience  and  judgment,  and 
that  if  the  truths  of  faith  forced  the  assent  of  our 
minds  all  the  value  of  that  assent  would  be  taken 
away.  If  these  causes  and  a  few  others  were  re- 
moved one  may  ask  oneself  how  many  "  doubts  "  and 
difficulties  would  remain  in  the  ordinary  walks  of 
Catholic  life. 

It  seems  to  be  according  to  the  mind  of  the  Church 
in  our  days  to  turn  the  minds  of  her  children  to  the 
devotional  study  of  Scripture,  and  if  this  is  begun,  as 
it  may  be,  in  the  early  years  of  education  it  gains  an 
influence  which  is  astonishing.  The  charm  of  the 
narrative  in  the  very  words  of  Scripture,  and  the 
jewels  of  prayer  and  devotion  which  may  be  gathered 
in  the  Sacred  Books,  are  within  the  reach  of  children, 
and  they  prepare  a  treasure  of  knowledge  and  love 
which  will  grow  in  value  during  a  lifetime.      Arms 


16  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

are  there,  too,  against  many  difficulties  and  tempta- 
tions, and  a  better  understanding  of  the  Church's 
teaching  and  of  the  hturgy  which  is  the  best  standard 
of  devotion  for  the  faithful. 

The  blight  of  Scriptural  knowledge  is  to  make  it  a 
"  subject "  for  examinations,  running  in  a  parallel 
track  with  Algebra  and  Geography,  earning  its 
measure  of  marks  and  submitted  to  the  tests  of  non- 
Catholic  examining  bodies,  to  whom  it  speaks  in 
another  tongue  than  ours.  It  must  be  a  very  robust 
devotion  to  the  word  of  God  that  is  not  chilled  by 
such  treatment,  and  can  keep  an  early  Christian 
glow  in  its  readings  of  the  Gospels  and  Epistles 
whether  they  have  proved  a  failure  or  a  success  in 
the  examination.  In  general,  Catholic  candidates 
acquit  themselves  well  in  this  subject,  and  perhaps  it 
may  give  some  edification  to  non-Catholic  examiners 
when  they  see  these  results.  But  it  is  questionable 
whether  the  risk  of  drying  up  the  affection  of  children 
for  what  must  become  to  them  a  text-book  is  worth 
this  measure  of  success.  Let  experience  speak  for 
those  who  know  if  it  is  not  so ;  it  would  seem  in  the 
nature  of  things  that  so  it  must  be.  When  it  is 
given  over  to  voluntary  study  (beyond  the  diocesan 
requirements  which  are  a  stimulus  and  not  a  blight) 
it  catches,  not  like  wild  fire,  but  like  blessed  fire,  even 
among  young  children,  and  is  woven  imperceptibly 
into  the  texture  of  life. 

Lastly,  what  may  be  asked  of  Catholic  children 
when  they  grow  up  and  have  to  take  upon  themselves 
the  responsibility  of  keeping  their  own  faith  alive 
and  the  practice  of  their  religion  in  an  atmosphere 


RELIGION  17 

which  may  often  be  one  of  cold  faith  and  slack  ob- 
servance ?  Neither  their  spiritual  guides,  nor  those 
who  have  educated  them,  nor  their  own  parents,  can 
take  this  responsibility  out  of  their  hands.  St. 
Francis  of  Sales  calls  science  the  8th  Sacrament  for 
a  priest,  urging  the  clergy  to  give  themselves 
earnestly  to  study,  and  he  says  that  great  troubles 
have  come  upon  us  because  the  sacred  ark  of  know- 
ledge was  found  in  other  hands  than  those  of  the 
Levites.  Leo  XIII  wrote  in  one  of  his  great  en- 
cyclicals that  "  Every  minister  of  holy  rehgion  must 
bring  to  the  struggle  the  full  energy  of  his  mind  and 
alibis  power  of  endurance  ".  What  about  the  laity? 
We  cannot  leave  all  the  battle  to  the  clergy;  they 
cannot  defend  and  instruct  and  carry  us  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  in  spite  of  ourselves ;  their  labours 
call  for  response  and  correspondence.  What  about 
those  who  are  now  leaving  childhood  behind  and  will 
be  in  the  front  ranks  of  the  coming  generation? 
Their  influence  will  make  or  unmake  the  religion  of 
their  homes,  and  what  they  will  be  for  the  whole  of 
their  life  will  depend  very  much  upon  how  they  take 
their  first  independent  stand. 

It  is  much  that  they  should  be  well  grounded  in 
those  elements  of  doctrine  which  they  can  learn  in 
their  school-days.  It  is  much  more  if  they  carry  out 
with  them  a  Uving  interest  in  the  subject  and  care 
to  watch  the  current  of  the  Church's  thought  in  the 
encyclicals  that  are  addressed  to  the  faithful,  the 
pastorals  of  Bishops,  the  works  of  CathoHc  writers 
which  are  more  and  more  within  the  reach  of  all,  in 
the  great  events  of  the  Church's  life,  and  in  the  talk 

2 


18  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

of  those  who  are  able  to  speak  from  first-hand  know- 
ledge and  experience.  It  is  most  of  all  fundamental 
that  they  should  have  an  attitude  of  mind  that  is 
worthy  of  their  faith ;  one  that  is  not  nervous  or 
apologetic  for  the  Church,  not  anxious  about  the 
Pope  lest  he  should  "  interfere  too  much,"  nor 
frightened  of  what  the  world  may  say.  They 
should  have  an  unperturbed  conviction  that  the 
Church  will  have  the  last  word  in  any  controversy, 
and  that  she  has  nothing  to  be  alarmed  at,  though 
all  the  battalions  of  newest  thought  should  be  set  in 
array  against  her;  they  should  be  lovingly  proud 
of  the  Church,  and  keep  their  beUef  in  her  at  all  times 
joyous,  assured,  and  unafraid. 

Theology  is  not  for  them,  neither  required  nor  ob- 
tainable, though  some  have  been  found  enterprising 
enough  to  undertake  to  read  the  Summa,  and  naive 
enough  to  suppose  that  they  would  be  theologians 
at  the  end  of  it,  and  even  at  the  outset  ready  to 
exchange  ideas  with  Doctors  of  Divinity  on  efficacious 
grace,  and  to  have  "  views  ' '  on  the  authorship  of  the 
Sacred  Writings.  Such  aspirations  either  come  to 
an  untimely  end  by  an  awakening  sense  of  proportion, 
or  remain  as  monuments  to  the  efforts  of  those  "  less 
wise,"  or  in  some  unfortunate  cases  the  mind  loses  its 
balance  and  is  led  into  error. 

"  Thirsting  to  be  more  than  mortal, 
I  was  even  less  than  clay." 

Let  us,  if  we  can,  keep  the  bolder  spirits  on  the 
level  of  what  is  congruous,  where  the  wealth  that  is 
within  their  reach  will  not  be  exhausted  in  their  life- 
time, and  where  they  may  excel  without  offence  and 


RELIGION  19 

without  inviting  either  condemnation  or  ridicule. 
The  sense  of  fitness  is  a  saving  instinct  in  this  as  in 
every  other  department  of  life.  When  it  is  present, 
first  principles  come  home  like  intuitions  to  the  mind, 
where  it  is  absent  they  seem  to  take  no  hold  at  all, 
and  the  understanding  that  should  supply  for  the 
right  instinct  makes  slow  and  laborious  way  if  it  ever 
enters  at  all. 

To  know  the  relation  in  which  one  stands  to  any 
department  of  knowledge  is,  in  that  department, 
"the  beginning  of  wisdom".  The  great  Christian 
Basilicas  furnish  a  parallel  in  the  material  order. 
They  are  the  house  of  God  and  the  home  and  posses- 
sion of  every  member  of  the  Church  militant  without 
distinction  of  age  or  rank  or  learning.  But  they  are 
not  the  same  to  each.  Every  one  brings  his  own  un- 
derstanding and  faith  and  insight,  and  the  great 
Church  is  to  him  what  he  has  capacity  to  understand 
and  to  receive.  The  great  majority  of  worshippers 
could  not  draw  a  line  of  the  plans  or  expound  a  law 
of  the  construction,  or  set  a  stone  in  its  place,  yet 
the  whole  of  it  is  theirs  and  for  them,  and  their 
reverent  awe,  even  if  they  have  no  further  under- 
standing, adds  a  spiritual  grace  and  a  fuller  dignity 
to  the  whole.  The  child,  the  beggar,  the  pilgrim, 
the  penitent,  the  lowly  servants  and  custodians  of 
the  temple,  the  clergy,  the  venerable  choir,  the  high- 
est authorities  from  whom  come  the  order  and  re- 
gulation of  the  ceremonies,  all  have  their  parts,  all 
stand  in  their  sjJecial  relations  harmoniously  sharing 
in  different  degrees  in  what  is  for  all.  Even  those 
long  since  departed,   architects    and    builders   and 

2* 


20  THE  EDUCATION  OF  OATHOLIO  GIRLS 

donors,  are  not  cut  off  from  it,  their  works  follow 
them,  and  their  memory  lives  in  the  beauty  which 
stands  as  a  memorial  to  their  great  ideals.  It  is  all 
theirs,  it  is  all  ours,  it  is  all  God's.  And  so  of  the 
great  basiHca  of  theology,  built  up  and  ever  in  course 
of  building ;  it  is  for  all — but  for  each  according  to  his 
needs, — for  their  use,  for  their  instruction,  to  surround 
and  direct  their  worship,  to  be  a  security  and  defence 
to  their  souls,  a  great  Church  in  which  the  spirit  is 
raised  heavenwards  in  proportion  to  the  faith  and 
submission  with  which  it  bows  down  in  adoration 
before  the  throne  of  God. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

CHARACTER  I. 

'*  La  vertu  mattresse  d'aujourd'hui  eat  la  spontaneite  rfesolue, 
reglee  par  les  principes  int6rieure3  et  lea  disciplines  volontaire- 
ment  acoeptees. " — Y.  lb  Qubrdec. 

The  value  set  on  character,  even  if  the  appreciation 
goes  no  further  than  words,  has  increased  very  mark- 
edly within  the  last  few  years,  and  in  reaction  against 
an  exclusively  mental  training  we  hear  louder  and 
louder  the  plea  for  the  formation  and  training  of 
character. 

Primarily  the  word  character  signifies  a  dis- 
tinctive mark,  cut,  engraved,  or  stamped  upon  a  sub- 
stance, and  by  analogy,  this  is  likewise  character  in 
the  sense  in  which  it  concerns  education.  A  "  man 
of  character  "  is  one  in  whom  acquired  qualities,  or- 
derly and  consistent,  stand  out  on  the  background  of 
natural  temperament,  as  the  result  of  training  and  es- 
pecially of  self-discipline,  and  therefore  stamped  or 
engraved  upon  something  receptive  which  was  pre- 
pared for  them.  This  something  receptive  is  the 
natural  temperament,  a  basis  more  or  less  apt  to  re- 
ceive what  training  and  habit  may  bring  to  bear 
upon  it.  The  sum  of  acquired  habits  tells  upon  the 
temperament,  and  together  with  it  produce  or  estab- 

3i 


22  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

lish  character,  as  the  arms  engraved  upon  the  stone 
constitute  the  seal. 

If  habits  are  not  acquired  by  training,  and  instead 
of  them  temperament  alone  has  been  allowed  to  have 
its  way  in  the  years  of  growth,  the  seal  bears  no  arms 
engraven  on  it,  and  the  result  is  want  of  character,  or 
a  weak  character,  without  distinctive  mark,  showing 
itself  in  the  various  situations  of  life  inconsistent, 
variable,  unequal  to  strain,  acting  on  the  impulse,  good 
or  bad,  of  the  moment,  its  fitful  strength  in  moods  of 
obstinacy  or  self-will  showing  that  it  lacks  the  higher 
qualities  of  rational  discernment  and  self-control. 

"  Character  is  shown  by  susceptibility  to  motive," 
says  a  modern  American,  turning  with  true  American 
instinct  to  the  practical  side  in  which  he  has  made 
experiences,  and  it  is  evidently  one  of  the  readiest 
ways  of  approaching  the  study  of  any  individual  char- 
acter, to  make  sure  of  the  motives  which  awaken  re- 
sponse. But  the  result  of  habit  and  temperament 
working  together  shows  itself  in  every  form  of  spon- 
taneous activity  as  well  as  in  response  to  external 
stimulus.  Character  may  be  studied  in  tastes  and 
sympathies,  in  the  manner  of  treating  with  one's 
fellow-creatures,  of  confronting  various  "  situations  " 
in  life,  in  the  ideals  aimed  at,  in  the  estimate  of  suc- 
cess or  failure,  in  the  relative  importance  attached  to 
things,  in  the  choice  of  friends  and  the  ultimate  fate  of 
friendships,  in  what  is  expected  and  taken  for  granted, 
as  in  what  is  habitually  ignored,  in  the  instinctive  at- 
titude towards  law  and  authority,  towards  custom 
and  tradition,  towards  order  and  progress. 

Character,  then,  may  stand  for  the  sum  of  th§ 


CHARACTER  I.  23 

qualities  which  go  to  make  one  to  be  thus,  and  not 
otherwise;  but  the  basis  which  underiies  and  con- 
stantly reasserts  itself  is  temperament.  It  makes 
people  angry  to  say  this,  if  they  are  determined  to  be 
so  completely  masters  of  their  way  in  life  that  no- 
thing but  reason,  in  the  natural  order,  shall  be  their 
guide ;  but  though  heroism  of  soul  has  overcome  the 
greatest  drawbacks  of  an  unfortunate  physical  or- 
ganization, these  cases  are  rare,  and  in  general  it 
must  be  taken  into  account  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  battle  against  difficulties  of  temperament  is  the 
battle  of  a  lifetime.  There  are  certain  broad  divi- 
sions which  although  they  cannot  pretend  to  rest 
upon  scientific  principles  yet  appeal  constantly  to 
•experience,  and  often  serve  as  practical  guides  to 
forecast  the  lines  on  which  psurticular  characters 
may  be  developed.  There  is  a  very  striking  division 
into  assenting  and  dissenting  temperaments,  chil- 
dren of  yes  and  children  of  no ;  a  division  which  declares 
itself  very  early  and  is  maintained  all  along  the  lines 
of  early  development,  in  mind  and  will  and  taste  and 
manner,  in  every  phase  of  activity.  And  though  time 
and  training  and  the  schooling  of  life  may  modify  its 
expression,  yet  below  the  surface  it  would  seem  only 
to  accentuate  itself,  as  the  features  of  character  be- 
come more  marked  with  advancing  years.  Where  it 
touches  the  religious  disposition  one  would  say  that 
some  were  born  with  the  minds  of  Catholics  and 
others  of  Nonconformists,  representing  respectively 
centripetal  and  centrifugal  tendencies  of  mind ;  the 
first  apt  to  see  harmony  and  order,  to  realize  the 
innermost  truth  of  things  that  must  be  as  they  are, 


24  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

the  second  born  to  be  in  opposition  and  with  great 
labour  subduing  themselves  into  conformity.  They 
are  precious  aids  in  the  service  of  the  Church  as  con- 
troversialists when  enlisted  on  the  right  side,  for 
controversy  is  their  element.  But  for  positive  doctrine, 
for  keen  appreciation,  for  persuasive  action  on  the 
wills  of  others,  they  are  at  a  disadvantage,  at  all 
events  in  England,  where  logic  does  not  enter  into 
the  national  religious  system,  and  the  mind  is  apt  to 
resent  conviction  as  if  it  were  a  kind  of  coercion. 
There  are  a  great  number  of  such  born  Nonconform- 
ists in  England,  and  when  either  the  grace  of  Catholic 
education  or  of  conversion  has  been  granted  to  them, 
it  is  interesting  to  watch  the  efforts  to  subdue  and 
attune  themselves  to  submission  and  to  faith.  Some- 
times the  Nonconformist  temperament  is  the  greatest 
of  safeguards,  where  a  Catholic  child  is  obliged  to  stand 
alone  amongst  uncongenial  surroundings,  then  it  de- 
fends itself  doggedly,  splendidly,  and  comes  out  after 
years  in  a  Protestant  school  quite  untouched  in  its 
faith  and  much  strengthened  in  militant  Christianity. 
These  are  cheerful  instances  of  its  development,  and 
its  advantages;  they  would  suggest  that  some  ex- 
ternal opposition  or  friction  is  necessary  for  such 
temperaments  that  their  fighting  instinct  may  be 
directed  against  the  common  enemy,  and  not  tend 
to  arouse  controversies  and  discussions  in  its  own 
ranks  or  within  itself.  In  less  happy  cases  the  in- 
stinct of  opposition  is  a  cause  of  endless  trouble, 
friction  in  family  life,  difficulty  in  working  with  others, 
"alarums,  excursions"  on  all  sides,  and  worse,  the 
get   attitude   of  distrust   towards   authority,  which 


CHARACTER  I.  96 

undermines  the  foundations  of  faith  and  prepares 
the  mind  to  break  away  from  control,  to  pass  from 
instinctive  opposition  to  antagonism,  from  antagonism 
to  contempt,  from  contempt  to  rebellion  and  revolt. 
Arrogance  of  mind,  irreverence,  self-idolatry,  blind- 
ness, follow  in  their  course,  and  the  whole  nature 
loses  its  balance  and  becomes  through  pride  a  piti- 
ful wreck. 

The  assenting  mind  has  its  own  possibilities  for 
good  and  evil,  more  human  than  those  of  Noncon- 
formity, for  "  pride  was  not  made  for  men  "  (Ecclus. 
X  22),  less  liable  to  great  catastrophes,  and  in  general 
better  adapted  for  all  that  belongs  to  the  service  of 
God  and  man.  It  is  a  happy  endowment,  and  the 
happiness  of  others  is  closely  bound  up  with  its  own. 
Again,  its  faults  being  more  human  are  more  easily 
corrected,  and  fortunately  for  the  possessor,  punish 
themselves  more  often.  This  favours  truthfulness 
in  the  mind  and  humility  in  the  soul — the  spirit  of 
the  Gonfiteor.  Its  dangers  are  those  of  too  easy 
assent,  of  inordinate  pursuit  of  particular  good,  of 
inconstancy  and  variability,  of  all  the  humanistic  ele- 
ments which  lead  back  to  paganism.  The  history  of 
the  Eenaissance  in  Southern  Europe  testifies  to  this, 
as  it  illustrates  in  other  countries  the  development 
of  the  spirit  of  Nonconformity  and  revolt.  Calvinism 
and  a  whole  group  of  Protestant  schools  of  thought 
may  stand  as  examples  of  the  spirit  of  denial  working 
itself  out  to  its  natural  consequences ;  while  the  ex- 
aggerations of  Italian  humanism,  frankly  pagan,  are 
fair  illustrations  of  the  spirit  of  assent  carried  beyond 
bounds.    And  those  centuries  when  the  tide  of  life 


26  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

ran  high  for  good  or  evil,  furnish  instances  in  point 
abounding  with  interest  and  instruction,  more  easily 
accessible  than  what  can  be  gathered  from  modern 
characters,  in  whom  less  clearly  defined  temperaments 
and  more  complex  conditions  of  life  have  made  it 
harder  to  distinguish  the  characteristic  features  of 
the  mind.  To  mention  only  one  or  two — St.  Francis 
of  Sales  and  Blessed  Thomas  More  were  great  as- 
sentors,  so  were  Pico  de  Mirandola  and  the  great 
Popes  of  the  Eenaissance,  an  example  of  a  great 
Nonconformist  is  Savonarola. 

The  old  division  of  temperaments  into  phlegmatic 
or  lymphatic,  sanguine,  choleric,  and  nervous  or 
melancholy,  is  a  fairly  good  foundation  for  preliminary 
observation,  especially  as  each  of  the  four  subdivides 
itself  easily  into  two  types — the  hard  and  soft — re- 
forms itself  easily  into  some  cross-divisions,  and  re- 
fuses to  be  blended  into  others.  Thus  a  very  fine  type 
of  character  is  seen  when  the  characteristics  of  the 
sanguine  and  choleric  are  blended — the  qualities  of 
one  correcting  the  faults  of  the  other,  and  a  very  poor 
one  if  a  yielding  lymphatic  temperament  has  also  a 
strain  of  melancholy  to  increase  its  tendency  towards 
inaction.  It  is  often  easy  to  discern  in  a  group  of 
children  the  leading  characteristics  of  these  tempera- 
ments, the  phlegmatic  or  lymphatic,  hard  or  soft,  not 
easily  stirred,  one  stubborn  and  the  other  yielding, 
both  somewhat  immobile,  generally  straightforward 
and  reliable,  law  abiding,  accessible  to  reason,  not 
exposed  to  great  dangers  nor  likely  to  reach  unusual 
heights.  Next  the  sanguine,  hard  or  soft,  as  hope  or 
enjoyment  have  the  upper  hand  in  them ;  this  is  the 


CHARACTER  I.  27 

richest  group  in  attractive  power.  If  hope  is  the 
stronger  factor  there  is  a  fund  of  energy  which,  allied 
with  the  power  of  charm  and  persuasion,  with  trust- 
fulness in  good,  and  optimistic  outlook  on  the  world, 
wins  its  way  and  succeeds  in  its  undertakings,  mak- 
ing its  appeal  to  the  will  rather  than  to  the  mind. 
On  the  softer  side  of  this  type  are  found  the  dis- 
appointing people  who  ought  to  do  well,  and  always 
fail,  for  whom  the  joie  de  vivre  carries  everything 
before  it,  who  are  always  good-natured,  always 
obliging,  always  sweet-tempered,  who  cannot  say  no, 
especially  to  themselves,  whose  energy  is  exhausted 
in  a  very  short  burst  of  effort,  though  ever  ready  to 
direct  itself  into  some  new  channel  for  as  brief  a 
trial.  These  are  the  characters  which  remain 
"  children  of  great  promise  "  to  the  end  of  their  days, 
great  promise  doomed  to  be  always  unfulfilled.  Of  all 
characters  these  are  perhaps  the  most  disappointing ; 
they  have  so  much  in  their  favour,  and  the  one  thing 
wanting,  steadiness  of  purpose,  renders  useless  their 
most  beautiful  gifts.  These  two  groups  seem  to  be 
the  most  common  among  the  Teutons  and  Celts  of 
Northern  Europe  with  fair  colouring  and  tall  build ; 
perhaps  the  other  two  types  are  correspondingly 
more  numerous  among  the  Latin  races.  They  are 
choleric,  ambitious,  or  self-isolated,  as  the  cast  of  their 
mind  is  eager  or  scornful,  and  generally  capable  of 
dissimulation ;  the  world  is  not  large  enough  for 
their  Bonapartes.  But  if  bitterness  and  sadness  pre- 
dominate, they  are  carried  on  an  ebbing  tide  towards 
pessimism  and  contemptuous  weariness  of  life ;  their 
soft  type,   in    so    far  as   they  have  one,   has  the 


28  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

softness  of  powder,  dry  and  crushed,  rather  than 
that  of  a  living  organism.  In  children,  this  type, 
fortunately  rare,  has  not  the  charm  or  joy  of  child- 
hood, but  shows  a  restless  straining  after  some  self- 
centred  excellence,  and  a  coldness  of  affection  which 
indicates  the  isolation  towards  which  it  is  carried  in 
later  life.  Lastly,  there  is  the  unquiet  group  of 
nervous  or  melancholic  temperaments,  their  melan- 
choly not  weighed  down  by  listless  sadness  as  the 
inactive  lymphatics,  but  more  actively  dissatisfied  with 
things  as  they  are — untiringly  but  unhopefully  at 
work — hard  on  themselves,  anxious-minded,  assured 
that  in  spite  of  their  efforts  all  will  turn  out  for  the 
worst,  often  scrupulous,  capable  of  long-sustained 
efforts,  often  of  heroic  devotedness  and  superhuman 
endurance,  for  which  their  reward  is  not  in  this 
world,  as  the  art  of  pleasing  is  singularly  deficient  in 
them.  Here  are  found  the  people  who  are  "  so  good, 
but  so  trying,"  ever  in  a  fume  and  fuss,  who,  for  sheer 
goodness,  rouse  in  others  the  spirit  of  contradiction. 
These  characters  are  at  their  best  in  adversity,  trouble 
stimulates  them  to  their  best  efforts,  whereas  in  easy 
circumstances  and  surrounded  with  affection  they  are 
apt  to  drop  into  querulous  and  exacting  habits.  If 
they  are  endowed  with  more  than  ordinary  energy  it 
is  in  the  direction  of  diplomacy,  and  not  always  frank. 
On  the  whole  this  is  the  character  whose  features 
are  least  clearly  defined,  over  which  a  certain  mystery 
hangs,  and  strange  experiences  are  not  unfrequent. 
It  is  difficult  to  deal  with  its  elusive  showings  and 
vanishings,  and  this  melting  away  and  reappearing 
seenas  in  some  to    become  a    habit    and    even    a 


CHARACTER  I.  » 

matter  of  choice,  with  a  determination  not  to  be 
known. 

Taking  these  groups  as  a  rough  classification  for 
observation  of  character,  it  is  possible  to  get  a  fair  idea 
of  the  raw  material  of  a  class,  though  it  may  be  thank- 
fully added  that  in  the  Church  no  material  is  really 
raw,  with  the  grace  of  Baptism  in  the  soul  and  later 
on  the  Sacrament  of  Penance,  to  clear  its  obscurities 
and  explain  it  to  itself  and  by  degrees  to  transform  its 
tendencies  and  with  grace  and  guidance  to  give  it  a 
steady  impulse  towards  the  better  things.  Confirma- 
tion and  First  Communion  sometimes  sensibly  and 
even  suddenly  transfigure  a  character ;  but  even  apart 
from  such  choice  instances  the  gradual  work  of  the 
Sacraments  brings  Catholic  children  under  a  discipline 
in  which  the  habit  of  self-examination,  the  constant 
necessity  for  effort,  the  truthful  avowal  of  being  in 
the  wrong,  the  acceptance  of  penance  as  a  due,  the 
necessary  submissions  and  self-renunciations  of  obedi- 
ence to  the  Church,  give  a  training  of  their  own.  So 
a  practising  Catholic  child  is  educated  unconsciously 
by  a  thousand  influences,  each  of  which,  supernatural 
in  itself,  tells  beyond  the  supernatural  sphere  and 
raises  the  natural  qualities,  by  self-knowledge,  by 
truth,  by  the  safeguard  of  rehgion  against  hardness 
and  isolation  and  the  blindness  of  pride,  even  if  the 
minimum  of  educational  facilities  have  been  at  work 
to  take  advantage  of  these  openings  for  good.  A 
Catholic  child  is  a  child,  and  keeps  a  childlike  spirit 
for  life,  unless  the  early  training  is  completely  ship- 
wrecked, and  even  then  there  are  memories  which 
are  means  of  recovery,  and  the  way  home  to  the 


30  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

Father's  house  is  known.  It  may  be  hoped  that  very 
many  never  leave  it,  and  never  lose  the  sense  of 
being  one  of  the  great  family,  "  of  the  household  of 
faith".  They  enjoy  the  freedom  of  the  house,  the 
rights  of  children,  the  ministries  of  all  the  graces 
which  belong  to  the  household,  the  power  of  being  at 
home  in  every  place  because  the  Church  is  there  with 
its  priesthood  and  its  Sacraments,  responsible  for  its 
children,  and  able  to  supply  the  wants  of  their  souls. 
It  is  scarcely  possible  to  find  among  Catholic  children 
the  inaccessible  little  bits  of  flint  who  are  not  brought 
up,  but  bring  up  their  own  souls  outside  the  Church — 
proud  in  their  isolation,  most  proud  of  never  yielding 
inward  obedience  or  owning  themselves  in  the  wrong, 
and  of  being  sufficient  for  themselves.  When  the 
grace  of  God  reaches  them  and  they  are  admitted  into 
the  Church,  one  of  the  most  overwhelming  experiences 
is  that  of  becoming  one  of  a  family,  for  whom  there 
is  some  one  responsible,  the  Father  of  the  family 
whose  authority  and  love  pass  through  their  appointed 
channels,  down  to  the  least  child. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  an  orphan  child  within 
the  Church,  there  are  possibilities  of  training  and 
development  which  belong  to  those  who  have  to  edu- 
cate the  young  which  must  appeal  particularly  to 
Catholic  teachers,  for  they  know  more  than  others 
the  priceless  value  of  the  children  with  whom  they 
have  to  do.  Children,  souls,  freighted  for  their  voyage 
through  hfe,  vessels  so  frail  and  bound  for  such  a  port 
are  worthy  of  the  devoted  care  of  those  who  have 
necessarily  a  lifelong  influence  over  them,  and  tho 
means  of  using  that  influence  for  their  hfelong  good 


CHARACTER  I.  31 

ought  to  be  a  matter  of  most  earnest  study.  Know- 
ledge must  come  before  action,  and  first-hand  know- 
ledge, acquired  by  observation,  is  worth  more  than 
theoretic  acquirements ;  the  first  may  supply  for  the 
second,  but  not  the  second  for  the  first.  There  are 
two  types  of  educators  of  early  childhood  which  no 
theory  could  produce,  and  indeed  no  theory  could 
tell  how  they  are  produced,  but  they  stand  unrivalled 
— one  is  the  Enghsh  nurse  and  the  other  the  Irish. 
The  English  nurse  is  a  being  apart,  with  a  profound 
sense  of  fitness  in  all  things,  herself  the  slave  of  duty ; 
and  having  certain  ideals  transmitted,  who  can  tell 
how,  by  an  unwritten  traditional  code,  as  to  what 
ought  to  he,  and  a  gift  of  authority  by  which  she 
secures  that  these  things  shall  he,  reverence  for  God, 
reverence  in  prayer,  reverence  for  parents,  considera- 
tion of  brothers  for  sisters,  unselfishness,  manners,  etc., 
her  views  on  all  these  things  are  like  the  laws  of  the 
Medes  and  Persians  "  which  do  not  alter  " — and  they 
are  also  holy  and  wholesome.  The  Irish  nurse  rules 
by  the  heart,  and  by  sympathy,  by  a  power  of  self-devo- 
tion that  can  only  be  found  where  the  love  of  God  is 
the  deepest  love  of  the  heart ;  she  has  no  views,  but — 
she  knows.  She  does  not  need  to  observe — she  sees' 
she  has  instincts,  she  never  lays  down  a  law,  but  she 
wins  by  tact  and  affection,  lifting  up  the  mind  to  God 
and  subduing  the  will  to  obedience,  while  appearing  to 
do  nothing  but  love  and  wait.  The  stamp  that  she 
leaves  on  the  earliest  years  of  training  is  never  entirely 
effaced ;  it  remains  as  some  instinct  of  faith,  a  habit  of 
resignation  to  the  will  of  God,  and  habitual  recourse  to 
prayer.     Both  these  types  of  educators  rule  by  their 


32         THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

gift  from  God,  and  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  most 
finished  training  in  the  art  of  nursery  management  can 
produce  anything  like  them,  for  they  govern  by  those 
things  that  lectures  and  handbooks  cannot  teach — 
faith,  love,  and  common  sense. 

Those  who  take  up  the  training  of  the  next  stage 
have  usually  to  learn  by  their  own  experience,  and 
study  what  is  given  to  very  few  as  a  natural  endow- 
ment— the  art  of  so  managing  the  wills  of  children 
that  without  provoking  resistance,  yet  without  yield- 
ing to  every  fancy,  they  may  be  led  by  degrees  to  self- 
control  and  to  become  a  law  to  themselves.  It  must 
be  recognized  from  the  beginning  that  the  work  is 
slow ;  if  it  is  forced  on  too  fast  either  a  breaking  point 
comes  and  the  child,  too  much  teased  into  perfection, 
turns  in  reaction  and  becomes  self-willed  and  rebel- 
lious ;  or  if,  unhappily,  the  forcing  process  succeeds,  a 
little  paragon  is  produced  like  Wordsworth's  "  model 
child  "  :— 

"  Full  early  trained  to  worship  seemliness, 

This  model  of  a  child  is  never  known 

To  mix  in  quarrels  ;  that  were  far  beneath 

Its  dignity  ;  with  gifts  he  bubbles  o'er 

As  generous  as  a  fountain  ;  selfishness 

May  not  come  near  him,  nor  the  little  throng 

Of  flitting  pleasures  tempt  him  from  his  path  ; 

The  wandering  beggars  propagate  his  name. 

Dumb  creatures  find  him  tender  as  a  nun, 

And  natural  or  supernatural  fear, 

Unless  it  leap  upon  him  in  a  dream. 

Touches  him  not.     To  enhance  the  wonder,  see 

How  arch  his  notices,  how  nice  hia  sense 

Of  the  ridiculous  ;  not  blind  is  he 

To  the  l^oad  follies  of  the  licensed  world. 


CHARACTER  I.  S3 

Yet  innocent  himself  withal,  though  shrewd. 

And  can  read  lectures  upon  innocence  ; 

A  miracle  of  scientific  lore, 

Ships  he  can  guide  across  the  pathless  sea, 

And  tell  you  all  their  cunning ;  he  can  read 

The  inside  of  the  earth,  and  spell  the  stars  ; 

He  knows  the  policies  of  foreign  lands  ; 

Can  string  you  names  of  districts,  cities,  towns, 

The  whole  world  over,  tight  as  beads  of  dew 

Upon  a  gossamer  thread  ;  he  sifts,  he  weighs  ; 

All  things  are  put  to  question  ;  he  must  live 

Knowing  that  he  grows  wiser  every  day 

Or  else  not  Uve  at  all,  and  seeing  too 

Each  little  drop  of  wisdom  as  it  falls 

Into  the  dimpling  cistern  of  his  heart  : 

For  this  unnatural  growth  the  trainer  blame. 

Pity  the  tree,"— 

"The  Prelude,"  Bk.  V,  Unes  298-329. 

On  the  other  hand  if  those  who  have  to  bring  up 
children,  fear  too  much  to  cross  their  inclinations, 
and  so  seek  always  the  line  of  least  resistance,  teach- 
ing lessons  in  play,  and  smoothing  over  every  rough 
place  of  the  road,  the  result  is  a  weak,  slack  will,  a 
mind  without  power  of  concentration,  and  in  later 
life  very  little  resourcefulness  in  emergency  or  power 
of  bearing  up  under  difficulties  or  privations.  We 
are  at  present  more  inclined  to  produce  these  soft 
characters  than  to  develop  paragons.  But  such  move- 
ments go  in  waves  and  the  wave-lengths  are  growing 
shorter;  we  seem  now  to  be  reaching  the  end  of  a 
period  when,  as  it  has  been  expressed,  "  the  teacher 
learns  the  lessons  and  says  them  to  the  child".  We 
are  beginning  to  outgrow  too  fervid  belief  in  methods, 
and  pattern  lessons,  and  coming  back  to  value  more 

3 


34  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

highly  the  habit  of  effort,  individual  work,  and  even 
the  saving  discipline  of  drudgery.  We  are  beginning, 
that  is  those  who  really  care  for  children,  and  for 
character,  and  for  life;  it  takes  the  State  and  its 
departments  a  long  time  to  come  up  with  the  experi- 
ence of  those  who  actually  know  living  children — a 
generation  is  not  too  much  to  allow  for  its  coming  to 
this  knowledge,  as  we  may  see  at  present,  when  the 
drawbacks  of  the  system  of  1870  are  becoming  ap- 
parent at  last  in  the  eyes  of  the  official  world,  having 
been  evident  for  years  to  those  whose  sympathies 
were  with  the  children  and  not  with  codes.  America, 
open-minded  America,  is  aware  of  all  this,  and  is 
making  generous  educational  experiments  with  the 
buoyant  idealism  of  a  young  nation,  an  idealism  that 
is  sometimes  outstripping  its  practical  sense,  quite 
able  to  face  its  disappointments  if  they  come,  as 
undoubtedly  they  will,  and  to  begin  again.  In  one 
point  it  is  far  ahead  of  us — in  the  understanding 
that  a  large  measure  of  freedom  is  necessary  for 
teachers.  Whereas  we  are,  let  us  hope,  at  the  most 
acute  stage  of  State  interference  in  details. 

But  in  spite  of  the  systems  the  children  live,  and 
come  up  year  after  year,  to  give  us  fresh  opportunities ; 
and  in  spite  of  the  systems  something  can  be  done 
with  them  if  we  take  the  advice  of  Archbishop 
Ullathorne — "trust  in  God  and  begin  as  you  can  ". 

Let  us  begin  by  learning  to  know  them,  and  the 
knowledge  of  their  characters  is  more  easily  gained 
if  some  cardinal  points  are  marked,  by  which  the 
unknown  country  may  be  mapped  out.  The  selec- 
tion of  these  cardinal  points  depends  in  part  on  the 


CHARACTER  I.  36 

mind  of  the  observer,  which  has  more  or  less  insight 
into  the  various  manifestations  of  possibility  and 
quahty  which  may  occur.  It  is  well  to  observe  with- 
out seeming  to  do  so,  for  as  shy  wild  creatures  fly 
oflf  before  a  too  observant  eye,  but  may  be  studied  by 
a  naturalist  who  does  not  appear  to  look  at  them,  so 
the  real  child  takes  to  flight  if  it  is  too  narrowly 
watched,  and  leaves  a  self-conscious  little  person  to 
take  its  place,  making  off  with  its  true  self  into  the 
backwoods  of  some  dreamland,  and  growing  more 
and  more  reticent  about  its  real  thoughts  as  it  gets 
accustomed  to  talk  to  an  appreciative  audience. 
With  weighing  and  measuring,  inspecting  and  report- 
ing, exercising  and  rapid  forcing,  and  comparing,  ap- 
plauding and  tabulating  results,  it  is  difficult  to  see 
how  children  can  escape  self-consciousness  and  arti- 
ficiality, and  the  enthusiasts  for  "  child  study  "  are 
in  danger  of  making  the  specimen  of  the  real  child 
more  and  more  rare  and  difficult  to  find,  as  destructive 
sportsmen  in  a  new  country  exterminate  the  choice 
species  of  wild  animals. 

Too  many  questions  put  children  on  their  guard  or 
make  them  unreal ;  they  cannot  give  an  account  of 
what  they  think  and  what  they  mean  and  how  far 
they  have  understood,  and  the  greater  the  anxiety 
shown  to  get  at  their  real  mind  the  less  are  they 
either  able  or  willing  to  make  it  known  ;  so  it  is  the 
quieter  and  less  active  observers  who  see  the  most, 
and  those  who  observe  most  are  best  aware  how  little 
can  be  known. 

Yet  there  are  some  things  which  may  serve  as 
points  of  the  compass,  especially  iji  tlie  tiransitjopftl 


36  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIBLS 

years  when  the  features  both  of  face  and  character 
begin  to  accentuate  themselves.  One  of  these  is  the 
level  of  friendships.  There  are  some  who  look  by 
instinct  for  the  friendship  of  those  above  them,  and 
others  habitually  seek  a  lower  level,  where  there  is 
no  call  to  self-restraint.  Boys  who  hang  about  the 
stables,  girls  who  like  the  conversation  of  servants ; 
boys  and  girls  who  make  friends  in  sets  at  school, 
among  the  less  desirable,  generally  do  so  from  a  love 
of  ease  and  dislike  of  that  restraint  and  effort  which 
every  higher  friendship  calls  for ;  they  can  be  somebody 
at  a  very  cheap  cost  where  the  standard  of  talk  is  not 
exacting,  whereas  to  be  with  those  who  are  striving 
for  the  best  in  any  station  makes  demands  which 
call  for  exertion,  and  the  taste  for  this  higher  level, 
the  willingness  to  respond  to  its  claims,  give  good 
promise  that  those  who  have  it  will  in  their  turn 
draw  others  to  the  things  that  are  best. 

The  attitude  of  a  child  towards  books  is  also  indica- 
tive of  the  whole  background  of  a  mind ;  the  very  way 
in  which  a  book  is  handled  is  often  a  sign  in  itself  of 
whether  a  child  is  a  citizen  born,  or  an  alien,  in  the 
world  for  which  books  stand.  Taste  in  reading,  both 
as  to  quality  and  quantity,  is  so  obviously  a  guiding 
line  that  it  need  scarcely  be  mentioned. 

Play  is  another  line  in  which  character  shows  itself, 
and  reveals  another  background  against  which  the 
scenes  of  life  in  the  future  will  stand  out,  and  in  school 
life  the  keenest  and  best  spirits  will  generally  divide  in- 
to these  two  groups,  the  readers  and  the  players 
with  a  few,  rarely  gifted,  who  seem  to  excel  in  both. 
From  the  readers  will  come  those  who  are  to  influence 


CHARACTER  1.  37 

the  minds  of  others  here,  if  they  do  not  let  themselves 
be  carried  out  too  far  to  keep  in  touch  with  real  life. 
From  the  players  will  come  those  whose  gift  is 
readiness  and  decision  in  action,  if  they  on  their  side  do 
not  remain  mere  players  when  life  calls  for  something 
more. 

There  are  other  groups,  the  bom  artists  with  their 
responsive  minds,  the  "home  children"  for  whom 
everything  centres  in  their  owti  home-world,  and  who 
have  in  them  the  making  of  another  one  in  the  future ; 
the  critics,  standing  aloof,  a  little  peevish  and  very 
self-conscious,  hardly  capable  of  deep  friendship  and 
fastidiously  dissatisfied  with  people  and  things  in 
general ;  the  cheerful  and  helpful  souls  who  have  no  in- 
terests of  their  own  but  can  devote  themselves  to  help 
anyone  ;  the  opposite  class  whose  life  is  in  their  own 
moods  and  feelings.  Many  others  might  be  added,  each 
observer's  experience  can  supply  them,  and  will  prob- 
ably close  the  list  with  the  same  little  group,  the  very 
few,  that  stand  a  little  apart,  but  not  aloof,  children  of 
privilege,  with  heaven  in  their  eyes  and  a  little  air  of 
mystery  about  them,  meditative  and  quiet,  friends 
of  God,  friends  of  all,  loved  and  loving,  and  asking 
very  little  from  the  outer  world,  because  they  have 
more  than  enough  within.  They  are  classed  as  the 
dreamers,  but  they  are  really  the  seers.  They  do 
not  ask  much  and  they  do  not  need  much  beyond  a 
reverent  guardianship,  and  to  be  let  alone  and  allowed 
to  grow ;  they  will  find  their  way  for  they  are  "  taught 
of  God  ". 

It  is  impossible  to  do  more  than  to  throw  out  sug- 
gestions which  any  child-naturalist  might  multiply  or 


38  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

improve  upon.  The  next  consideration  for  all  concerned 
is  what  to  do  with  the  acquired  knowledge,  and  how 
to  "bring  up"  in  the  later  stages  of  childhood  and 
early  youth. 

What  do  we  want  to  bring  up  ?  Not  good  nonen- 
tities, who  are  merely  good  because  they  are  not  bad. 
There  are  too  many  of  them  already,  no  trouble  to 
anyone,  only  disappointing,  so  good  that  they  ought 
to  be  BO  much  better,  if  only  they  would.  But  who 
can  make  them  will  to  be  something  more,  to  become, 
as  Montalembert  said,  '^Q,fact,  instead  of  remaining 
but  a  shadow,  an  echo,  or  a  ruin  ?  "  Those  who  have 
to  educate  them  to  something  higher  must  them- 
selves have  an  idea  of  what  they  want ;  they  must 
believe  in  the  possibility  of  every  mind  and  char- 
acter to  be  lifted  up  to  something  better  than  it  has 
already  attained ;  they  must  themselves  be  striving  for 
some  higher  excellence,  and  must  believe  and  care 
deeply  for  the  things  they  teach.  For  no  one  can  be 
educated  by  maxim  and  precept ;  it  is  the  life  lived, 
and  the  things  loved  and  the  ideals  believed  in,  by 
which  we  tell,  one  upon  another.  If  we  care  for 
energy  we  call  it  out ;  if  we  believe  in  possibilities  of 
development  we  almost  seem  to  create  them.  If  we 
want  integrity  of  character,  steadiness,  reliability, 
courage,  thoroughness,  all  the  harder  qualities  that 
serve  as  a  backbone,  we,  at  least,  make  others  want 
them  also,  and  strive  for  them  by  the  power  of  ex- 
ample that  is  not  set  as  deliberate  good  example,  for 
that  is  as  tame  as  a  precept ;  but  the  example  of  the 
life  that  is  lived,  and  the  truths  that  are  honestly  be- 
lieved in. 


CHARACTER  I.  39 

The  gentler  qualities  which  are  to  adorn  the  harder 
virtues  may  be  more  explicitly  taught.  It  is  always 
more  easy  to  tone  down  than  to  brace  up  ;  there  must 
first  be  something  to  moderate,  before  moderation  can 
be  a  virtue ;  there  must  be  strength  before  gentleness 
can  be  taught,  as  there  must  be  some  hardness  in 
material  things  to  make  them  capable  of  polish.  And 
these  are  qualities  which  are  specially  needed  in  our 
unsteady  times,  when  rapid  emancipation  of  unknown 
forces  makes  each  one  more  personally  responsible 
than  in  the  past.  It  is  an  impatient  age ;  we  must 
learn  patience ;  it  is  an  age  of  sudden  social  changes, 
we  have  to  make  ready  for  adversity ;  it  is  an  age  of 
lawlessness,  each  one  must  stand  upon  his  own  guard 
and  be  his  own  defence ;  it  is  a  selfish  age  and  never 
was  unselfishness  more  urgently  needed ;  love  of  home 
and  love  of  country  seem  to  be  cooling,  one  as  rapidly 
as  the  other.  Never  was  it  more  necessary  to  learn  the 
spirit  of  self-sacrifice  both  for  family  life  and  the  love 
and  honour  due  to  one's  country  which  is  also  "  piety  " 
in  its  true  sense. 

All  these  things  come  with  our  Catholic  faith  and 
practice  if  it  is  rightly  understood.  Cathohc  family 
life,  Catholic  citizenship,  Catholic  patriotism  are  the 
truest,  the  only  really  true,  because  the  only  types  of 
these  virtues  that  are  founded  on  truth.  But  they  do 
not  come  of  themselves.  Many  will  let  themselves 
be  carried  to  heaven,  as  they  hope,  in  the  long-suffer- 
ing arms  of  the  Church  without  either  defending  or 
adorning  her  by  their  virtues,  and  we  shall  but  add  to 
their  number  if  we  do  not  kindle  in  the  minds  of  child- 
ren the  ambition  to  do  something  more,  to  devote 


40  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

themselves  to  the  great  Cause,  by  self-sacrifice  to  be 
in  some  sort  initiated  into  its  spirit,  and  identified 
with  it,  and  thus  to  make  it  worth  while  for  others  as 
well  as  for  themselves  that  they  have  lived  their  hfe 
on  earth.  There  is  a  price  to  be  paid  for  this,  and 
they  must  face  it ;  a  good  life  cannot  be  a  soft  life,  and 
a  great  deal,  even  of  innocent  pleasure,  has  to  be  given 
up,  voluntarily,  to  make  life  worth  living,  if  it  were 
only  as  a  training  in  doing  without. 

Independence  is  a  primary  need  for  character,  and 
independence  can  only  be  learnt  by  doing  without 
pleasant  things,  even  unnecessarily.  Simplicity  of 
life  is  an  essential  for  greatness  of  life,  and  the  very 
meaning  of  the  simple  life  is  the  laying  aside  of  many 
things  which  tend  to  grow  by  habit  into  necessities. 
The  habit  of  work  is  another  necessity  in  any  life 
worth  living,  and  this  is  only  learnt  by  refraining 
again  and  again  from  what  is  pleasant  for  the  sake  of 
what  is  precious.  Patience  and  thoroughness  are 
requirements  whose  worth  and  value  never  come 
home  to  the  average  mind  until  they  are  seen  in 
startling  excellence,  and  it  is  apparent  what  a  price 
must  have  been  paid  to  acquire  their  adamant  per- 
fection, a  lesson  which  might  be  the  study  of  a 
lifetime.  The  value  of  time  is  another  necessary 
lesson  of  the  better  life,  a  hard  lesson,  but  one  that 
makes  an  incalculable  difference  between  the  expert 
and  the  untried.  We  are  apt  to  be  always  in  a  hurry 
now,  for  obvious  reasons  which  hasten  the  movement 
of  life,  but  not  many  really  know  how  to  use  time  to 
the  full.  Our  tendency  is  to  alternate  periods  of  ex- 
treme activity  with  intervals  of  complete  prostration 


CHARACTER  I.  41 

for  recovery.  Perhaps  our  grandparents  knew  better 
in  a  slower  age  the  use  of  time.  The  old  Marquise 
de  Gramont,  aged  93,  after  receiving  Extreme  Unc- 
tion, asked  for  her  knitting,  for  the  poor.  "Mais 
Madame  la  Marquise  a  6te  administr6e,  elle  va 
mourir !  "  said  the  maid,  who  thought  the  occupation 
of  dying  sufficient  for  a  lady  of  her  age.  "Ma  ch^re, 
ce  n'est  pas  une  raison  pour  perdre  son  temps,"  an- 
swered the  indomitable  Marquise.  It  is  told  of  her 
also  that  when  one  of  her  children  asked  for  some 
water  in  summer,  between  meals,  she  replied :  "  Mon 
enfant,  vous  ne  serez  jamais  qu'un  ^tre  manqu6,  une 
pygm6e,  si  vous  prenez  ces  habitudes-la,  pensez,  mon 
petit  coeur,  au  fiel  de  Notre  Seigneur  J6sus  Christ,  et 
vous  aurez  le  courage  d'attendre  le  diner  ",  She  had 
learned  for  herself  the  strength  of  going  without 
One  more  lesson  must  be  mentioned,  the  hardest  of 
all  to  be  learnt — perfect  sincerity.  It  is  so  hard  not  to 
pose,  for  all  but  the  very  truest  and  simplest  natures 
— to  pose  as  independent,  being  eaten  up  with  human 
respect,  to  pose  as  indifferent  though  aching  with  the 
widi  to  be  understood,  to  pose  as  flippant  while  long- 
ing to  be  in  earnest,  to  hide  an  attraction  to  higher 
things  under  a  little  air  of  something  like  irreverence. 
It  is  strange  that  this  kind  of  pose  is  considered  as 
less  insincere  than  the  opposite  class,  which  is  rather 
out  of  fashion  for  this  very  reason,  yet  to  be  untrue 
to  one's  better  self  is  surely  an  unworthier  insincerity 
than  to  be  ashamed  of  the  worst.  Perhaps  the  best 
evidence  of  this  is  the  costliness  of  the  effort  to  over- 
come it,  and  the  more  observation  and  reflection  we 
spend  on  this  point  the  more  shall  we  be  convinced 


42  THE  EDUCATION  OP  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

that  it  is  very  hard  to  learn  to  be  quite  true,  and  that 
it  entails  more  personal  self-sacrifice  than  almost  any 
other  virtue. 

In  conclusion,  the  means  for  training  character 
may  be  grouped  under  the  following  headings : — 

1.  Contact  with  those  who  have  themselves  at- 
tained to  higher  levels,  either  parent,  or  teacher,  or 
friend.  Perhaps  at  present  the  influence  of  a  friend  is 
greater  than  that  of  any  power  officially  set  over  us, 
so  jealous  are  we  of  control  So  much  the  better 
chance  for  those  who  have  the  gift  even  in  mature  age 
of  winning  the  friendship  of  children,  and  those  who 
have  just  outgrown  childhood.  In  these  friendships 
the  great  power  of  influence  is  hopefulness,  to  be- 
lieve in  possibilities  of  good,  and  to  expect  the 
best. 

2.  Vigilance,  not  the  nervous  vigilance,  unquiet  and 
anxious,  which  rouses  to  mischief  the  sporting  instinct 
of  children  and  stings  the  rebellious  to  revolt,  but  the 
vigilance  which,  open  and  confident  itself,  gives  con- 
fidence, nurtures  fearlessness,  and  brings  a  steady 
pressure  to  be  at  one's  best.  Vigilance  over  children  is 
no  insult  to  their  honour,  it  is  rather  the  right  of  their 
royalty,  for  they  are  of  the  blood  royal  of  Christianity, 
and  deserve  the  guard  of  honour  which  for  the  sake 
of  their  royalty  does  not  lose  sight  of  them. 

3.  Criticism  and  correction.  To  be  used  with  in- 
finite care,  but  never  to  be  neglected  without  grave 
injustice.  It  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  reprove  in  the 
right  time,  in  the  right  tone,  without  exasperation, 
without  impatience,  without  leaving  a  sting  behind  ; 
to  dare  to  give  pain  for  the  sake  of  greater  good ;  to 


CHARACTER  I.  43 

love  the  truth  and  have  courage  to  tell  it,  to  change 
reproof  as  time  goes  on  to  the  frank  criticism  of  friend- 
ship that  is  ambitious  for  its  friend.  To  accept 
criticism  is  one  of  the  greatest  lessons  to  be  learnt 
in  Ufe.  To  give  it  well  is  an  art  which  requires  more 
study  and  more  self-denial  than  either  the  habit  of 
being  easily  satisfied  and  requiring  little,  or  the  queru- 
lous habit  of "  scolding  "  which  is  admirably  described 
by  Bishop  Hedley  as  "  the  resonance  of  the  empty  in- 
telligence and  of  the  hollow  heart  of  the  man  who 
has  nothing  to  give,  nothing  to  propose,  nothing  to 
impart ". 

4.  Discipline  and  obedience.  If  these  are  to  be 
means  of  training  they  must  be  living  and  not  dead 
powers,  and  they  must  lead  up  to  gradual  self-govern- 
ment, not  to  sudden  emancipation.  Obedience  must 
be  first  of  all  to  persons,  prompt  and  unquestioning, 
then  to  laws,  a  "reasonable  service,"  then  to  the 
wider  law  which  each  one  must  enforce  from  within — 
the  law  of  love  which  is  the  law  of  liberty  of  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

These  are  the  means  which  in  her  own  way,  and 
through  various  channels  of  authority,  the  Church 
makes  use  of,  and  the  Church  is  the  great  Mother 
who  educates  us  all.  She  takes  us  into  her  confi- 
dence, as  we  make  ourselves  worthy  of  it,  and  shows 
us  out  of  her  treasures  things  new  and  old.  She  sets 
the  better  things  always  before  us,  prays  for  us,  prays 
with  us,  teaches  us  to  pray,  and  so  "  lifts  up  our  minds 
to  heavenly  desires  ".  She  watches  over  us  with  un- 
anxious,  but  untiring  vigilance,  setting  her  Bishops 
and  pastors  to  keep  watch  over  the  flock,  collectively 


44  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

and  individually,  "with  that  most  perfect  care"  that 
St.  Francis  of  Sales  describes  as  "  that  which  ap- 
proaches the  nearest  to  the  care  God  has  of  us,  which 
is  a  care  full  of  tranquillity  and  quietness,  and  which, 
in  its  highest  activity,  has  still  no  emotion,  and  being 
only  one,  yet  condescends  to  make  itself  all  to  all 
things." 

Criticism  and  correction,  discipline  and  obedience — 
these  things  are  administered  by  the  Church  our 
Mother,  gently  but  without  weakness,  so  careful  is 
she  in  her  warnings,  so  slow  in  her  punishments,  so 
unswervingly  true  to  what  is  of  principle,  and  asking 
so  persuasively  not  for  the  sullen  obedience  of  slaves, 
but  for  the  free  and  loving  submission  of  sons  and 
daughters. 


CHAPTER  III. 

CHARACTER  II. 

"  The  Parts  and  Signes  of  Goodnesse  are  many.  If  a  Man  be 
Gracious  and  Curteous  to  Strangers,  it  shewes  he  is  a  Citizen 
of  the  World,  And  that  his  Heart  is  no  Island  cut  off  from 
other  Lands,  but  a  Continent  that  joynes  to  them.  If  he  be 
Compassionate  towards  the  Afflictions  of  others,  it  shewes  that 
his  Heart  is  like  the  noble  Tree,  that  is  wounded  to  selfe  when 
it  gives  Balme.  If  he  easily  Pardons  and  Remits  Offences,  it 
shewes  that  his  minde  is  planted  above  Iniuries,  So  that  he 
cannot  be  shot.  If  he  be  Thankfull  for  small  Benefits,  it  shewes 
that  he  weighes  Men's  Mindes,  and  not  their  Trash.  But  above 
all,  if  he  have  St.  Paul's  Perfection,  that  he  would  wish  to  be  an 
Anathema  from  Christ,  for  the  Salvation  of  his  Brethren,  it 
shewes  much  of  a  Divine  Nature,  and  a  kinde  of  Conformity 
with  Christ  himselfe  ". — Bacon,  "  Of  Goodnesse  ". 

No  one  who  has  the  good  of  children  at  heart,  and 
the  training  of  their  characters,  can  leave  the  sub- 
ject without  some  grave  thoughts  on  the  formation 
of  their  own  character,  which  is  first  in  order  of 
importance,  and  in  order  of  time  must  go  before,  and 
accompany  their  work  to  the  very  end. 

"  What  is  developed  to  perfection  can  make  other 
things  like  unto  itself."  So  saints  develop  sanctity 
in  others,  and  truth  and  confidence  beget  truth  and 
confidence,  and  the  spirit  of  enterprise  calls  out  the 
spirit  of  enterprise,  and  constancy  trains  to  endurance 
and  perseverance,  and  wise  kindness  makes  others 

45 


46  THE  EDUCATION  OP  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

kind,  and  courage  makes  them  courageous,  and  in  its 
degree  each  good  quality  tends  to  reproduce  itself  in 
others.  Children  are  very  delicately  sensitive  to  these 
influences,  they  respond  unconsciously  to  what  is  ex- 
pected of  them,  and  instinctively  they  imitate  the 
models  set  before  them.  They  catch  a  tone,  a  gesture, 
a  trick  of  manner  with  a  quickness  that  is  startling. 
The  influence  of  mind  and  thought  on  mind  and 
thought  cannot  be  so  quickly  recognized,  but  tells 
with  as  much  certainty,  and  enters  more  deeply  into 
the  character  for  life.  The  consideration  of  this  is  a 
great  incentive  to  the  acquirement  of  self-knowledge 
and  self-disciphne  by  those  who  have  to  do  with  child- 
ren. The  old  codes  of  conventionality  in  education, 
which  stood  for  a  certain  system  in  their  time,  are 
disappearing,  and  the  worth  of  the  individual  becomes 
of  greater  importance.  This  is  true  of  those  who 
educate  and  of  those  whom  they  bring  up.  As  the 
methods  of  modern  warfare  call  for  more  individual 
resourcefulness,  so  do  the  methods  of  the  spiritual 
warfare,  now  that  we  are  not  supported  by  big  bat- 
talions, but  each  one  is  thrown  back  on  conscience 
and  personal  responsibility.  Girls  as  well  as  boys 
have  to  be  trained  to  take  care  of  themselves  and  be 
responsible  for  themselves,  and  if  they  are  not  so 
trained,  no  one  can  now  be  responsible  for  them  or 
protect  them  in  spite  of  themselves.  Therefore,  the 
first  duty  of  those  who  are  bringing  up  Catholic  girls 
is  to  be  themselves  such  as  Catholic  girls  must  be 
later  on.  This  example  is  a  discourse  **  in  the  vulgar 
tongue  "  which  cannot  be  misunderstood,  and  example 
is  not  resented   unless  it   seems   self-conscious   and 


CHARACTER  U.  47 

presented  of  set  purpose.  The  one  thing  necessary 
is  to  be  that  which  we  ought  to  be,  and  that  is  to  say, 
in  other  words,  that  the  fundamental  virtue  in  teaching 
children  is  a  great  and  resolute  sincerity. 

Sincerity  is  a  difficult  virtue  to  practise  and  is  too 
easily  taken  for  granted.  It  has  more  enemies  than 
appear  at  first  sight.  Inertness  of  mind,  the  desire  to 
do  things  cheaply,  dislike  of  mental  effort,  the  tend- 
ency to  be  satisfied  with  appearances,  the  wish  to 
shine,  impatience  for  results,  all  foster  intellectual 
insincerity ;  just  as,  in  conduct,  the  wish  to  please, 
the  spirit  of  accommodation  and  expediency,  the  fear 
of  blame,  the  instinct  of  concealment,  which  is  inborn 
in  many  girls,  destroy  frankness  of  character  and  make 
people  untrue  who  would  not  willingly  be  untruthful. 
Yet  even  truthfulness  is  not  such  a  matter  of  course 
as  many  would  be  willing  to  assume.  To  be  inaccurate 
through  thoughtless  laziness  in  the  use  of  words  is 
extremely  common,  to  exaggerate  according  to  the 
mood  of  the  moment,  to  say  more  than  one  means 
and  cover  one's  retreat  with  "I  didn't  mean  it," 
to  pull  facts  into  shape  to  suit  particular  ends,  are 
demoralizing  forms  of  untruthfulness,  common,  but 
often  unrecognized.  If  a  teacher  could  only  excel  in 
one  high  quality  for  training  girls,  probably  the  best 
in  which  she  could  excel  would  be  a  great  sincerity, 
which  would  train  them  in  frankness,  and  in  the 
knowledge  that  to  be  entirely  frank  means  to  lay  down  a 
great  price  for  that  costly  attainment,  a  perfectly  hon- 
ourable and  fearless  life. 

^  "  A  woman,  if  ifc  be  once  known  that  she  is  deficient  in  truth, 
has  no  resource.     Having,  by  a  misime  of  language,  injured  or 


48  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

It  sometimes  happens  that  the  realization  of  this 
truth  comes  comparatively  late  in  life  to  those  who 
ought  to  have  recognized  it  years  before.  Thinking 
along  the  surface  of  things,  and  in  particular  repeat- 
ing catchwords  and  platitudes  and  trite  maxims  on 
the  subject  of  sincerity,  is  apt  to  make  us  believe  that 
we  possess  the  quality  we  talk  about,  and  as  it  is  im- 
possible to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  education  of 
children  without  treating  of  sincerity  and  truthfulness, 
it  is  comparatively  easy  to  slip  into  the  happy  assump- 
tion that  one  is  truthful,  because  one  would  not 
deliberately  be  otherwise.  But  it  takes  far  more  than 
this  to  acquire  real  sincerity  of  life  in  the  complexity 
and  artificiality  of  the  conditions  in  which  we  Hve. 

"  And  we  have  been  on  many  thousand  lines, 
And  we  have  shown  on  each  spirit  and  power  ; 
But  hardly  have  we,  for  one  little  hour, 
Been  on  our  own  line,  have  we  been  ourselves. 


Our  hidden  self,  and  what  we  say  and  do 
Is  eloquent,  is  well — but  'tis  not  true  !  " 

Matthew  Abnold,  "Buried  Life  ". 

Sincerity  requires  the  recognition  that  to  be  honestly 
oneself  is  more  impressive  for  good  than  to  be  a  very 
superior  person  by  imitation.  It  requires  the  renuncia- 
tion of  some  claims  to  consideration  and  esteem,  and 
the  acceptance  of  limitations  (a  different  thing  from 

lost  her  only  means  of  persuasion,  nothing  can  preserve  her  from 
falling  into  contempt  or  nonentity.  When  she  is  no  longer  to 
be  believed  no  one  will  take  the  trouble  to  listen  to  her  .  .  . 
no  one  can  depend  on  her,  no  one  rests  any  hope  on  her,  the 
words  of  which  she  makes  use  have  no  meaning.  ' — Madame 
Necker  de  Saussure,  "Progressive  Education  ", 


CHABACTER  H.  49 

acquiescence  in  them,  for  it  means  the  acceptance  of 
a  lifelong  effort  to  be  what  we  aspire  to  be,  with  a 
knowledge  that  we  shall  never  fully  attain  it).  It  re- 
quires that  we  should  bear  the  confusion  of  defeat 
without  desisting  from  the  struggle,  that  we  should 
accept  the  progressive  illumination  of  what  is  still 
unaccomplished,  and  keep  the  habitual  lowliness  of  a 
beginner  with  the  unconquerable  hopefulness  which 
comes  of  a  fixed  resolution  to  win  what  is  worth 
winning.  Let  those  who  have  tried  say  whether 
this  is  easy. 

But  in  guiding  children  along  this  dilBBcult  way  it 
is  not  wise  to  call  direct  attention  to  it,  lest  their 
inexperience  and  sensitiveness  should  turn  to  scrupu- 
losity and  their  spontaneity  be  paralysed.  It  is  both 
more  acceptable  and  healthier  to  present  it  as  a  feat 
of  courage,  a  habit  of  fearlessness  to  be  acquired,  of 
hardihood  and  strength  of  character.  The  more  subtle 
forms  of  self-knowledge  belong  to  a  later  period  in 
life. 

Another  quality  to  be  desired  in  those  who  have  to 
do  with  children  is  what  may — for  want  of  a  better 
word — be  called  vitality,  not  the  fatiguing  artificial 
animation  which  is  sometimes  assumed  professionally 
by  teachers,  but  the  keenness  which  shows  forth  a 
settled  conviction  that  life  is  worth  living.  The  ex- 
pression of  this  is  not  self-asserting  or  controversial, 
for  it  is  not  like  a  garment  put  on,  but  a  living  grace 
of  soul,  coming  from  within,  bom  of  straight  thinking 
and  resolution,  and  so  strongly  confirmed  by  faith  and 
hope  that  nothing  can  discourage  it  or  make  it  let  go. 
It  is  a  bulwark  against  the  faults  which  sink  below 


50  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

the  normal  line  of  life,  dullness,  depression,  timidity, 
procrastination,  sloth  and  sadness,  moodiness,  unsocia- 
bility— all  these  it  tends  to  dispel,  by  its  quiet  and  con- 
fident gift  of  encouragement.  And  though  so  contrary 
to  the  spirit  of  childhood,  these  faults  are  found  in 
children — often  in  delicate  children  who  have  lost  con- 
fidence in  themselves  from  being  habitually  outdone 
by  stronger  brothers  and  sisters,  or  in  slow  minds 
which  seem  "stupid"  toothers  and  to  themselves, 
or  in  natures  too  sensitive  to  risk  themselves  in  the 
m616e.  To  these,  one  who  brings  the  gift  of  en- 
couragement comes  as  a  deliverer  and  often  changes 
the  course  of  their  life,  leading  them  to  believe  in 
themselves  and  their  own  good  endowments,  making 
them  taste  success  which  rouses  them  to  better  efforts, 
giving  them  the  strong  comfort  of  knowing  that  some- 
thing is  expected  of  them,  and  that  if  they  will  only 
try,  in  one  way  if  not  in  another,  they  need  not  be 
behind  the  best.  At  some  stage  in  life,  and  especially 
in  the  years  of  rapid  growth,  we  all  need  encourage- 
ment, and  often  characters  that  seem  to  require  only 
repression  are  merely  singing  out  of  tune  from  the 
effort  to  hold  out  against  blank  discouragement  at 
their  failures  to  "be  good,"  or  to  divert  their  mind 
forcibly  from  their  fits  of  depression.  To  be  scolded 
accentuates  their  trouble  and  tends  to  harden  them ; 
to  grow  a  shell  of  hardness  seems  for  the  moment 
their  only  defence ;  but  if  some  one  will  meet  their 
efforts  half-way,  believing  in  them  with  a  tranquil 
conviction  that  they  will  Uve  through  these  difficulties 
and  find  themselves  in  due  time,  they  can  be  saved 
from  much  unhappiness  of  their  own  making,  though 


CHARACTER  H.  61 

not  of  their  own  fault,  and  their  growth  will  not  be 
arrested  behind  an  unnatural  shell  of  defence. 

The  strong  vitality  and  gift  of  encouragement  which 
can  give  this  help  are  also  of  value  in  saving  from  the 
morbid  and  exaggerated  friendships  which  sometimes 
spoil  the  best  years  of  a  girl's  education.  If  the 
character  of  those  who  teach  them  has  force  enough 
not  only  to  inspire  admiration  but  to  call  out  effort,  it 
may  rouse  the  mind  and  will  to  a  higher  plane  and 
make  the  things  of  which  it  disapproves  seem  worth- 
less. There  are  moments  when  the  leading  mind 
must  have  strength  enough  for  two,  but  this  must  not 
last.  Its  glory  is  to  raise  the  mind  of  the  learner  to 
equality  with  itself,  not  to  keep  it  in  leading  strings, 
but  to  make  it  grow  so  that,  as  the  master  has  often 
been  outstripped  by  the  scholar,  the  efforts  of  the 
younger  may  even  stimulate  the  achievements  of  the 
elder,  and  thus  a  noble  friendship  be  formed  in  the 
pursuit  of  what  is  best. 

Educators  of  youth  are  exposed  to  certain  pro- 
fessional dangers,  which  he  very  close  to  professional 
excellences  of  character.  There  is  the  danger  of 
remaining  young  for  the  sake  of  children,  so  that 
something  of  mature  development  will  be  lacking. 
If  there  is  not  a  stimulus  from  outside,  and  it  is  not 
supplied  for  by  an  inward  determination  to  grow,  the 
mental  development  may  be  arrested  and  contented- 
ness  at  a  low  level  be  mistaken  for  the  limit  of  ca- 
pacity. A  great  many  people  are  mentally  lazy,  and 
only  too  ready  to  believe  that  they  can  do  no  more. 

Many  teachers  are  yoked  to  an  examination  pro- 
gramme sufficiently  loaded  to  call  for  a  great  deal  of 

4* 


68  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

pressure  along  a  low  level,  and  they  may  easily 
mistake  this  harassing  activity  for  real  mental  work, 
and  either  be  indeed  hindered,  or  consider  themselves 
absolved  from  anything  more.  The  penalty  of  it  is 
a  gradual  decHne  of  the  unused  powers,  growing 
difficulty  of  sustained  attention,  disHke  for  what 
requires  effort  of  mind,  loss  of  wider  interests,  rest- 
lessness and  superficiality  in  reading,  and  other 
indications  of  diminution  of  power  in  the  years  when 
it  ought  to  be  on  the  increase.  Is  this  the  fault  of 
those  who  so  decline  in  power  ?  It  would  be  hard 
to  say  that  it  is  so  universally,  for  some  no  doubt 
are  pressed  through  necessity  to  the  very  limits  of 
their  time  and  of  their  endurance.  Yet  experience 
goes  to  prove  that  if  a  mental  awakening  really  takes 
place  the  most  unfavourable  circumstances  will  not 
hinder  a  rapid  development  of  power.  Abundance  of 
books  and  leisure  and  fostering  conditions  are  helps 
but  not  essentials  for  mental  growth.  If  few  books 
can  be  had,  but  these  are  of  the  best,  they  will  do 
more  for  the  mind  by  continued  reading  than  abun- 
dance for  those  who  have  not  yet  learned  to  use  it.  If 
there  is  little  leisure  the  value  of  the  hardly-spared 
moments  is  enhanced ;  we  may  convince  ourselves 
of  this  in  the  lives  of  those  who  have  reached  emin- 
ence in  learning,  through  circumstances  apparently 
hopeless.  If  the  conditions  of  life  are  unfavourable, 
it  is  generally  possible  to  find  one  like-minded  friend 
who  will  double  our  power  by  quickening  enthusiasm 
or  by  setting  the  pace  at  which  we  must  travel,  and 
leading  the  way.  There  may  be  side  by  side  in  the 
same  calling  in  life  persons  doing  similar  work  in  like 


OHARACTEB  U.  B3 

circumstances,  with  like  resources,  of  whom  one  is 
contentedly  stagnating,  feeling  satisfied  all  the  time 
that  duty  is  done  and  nothing  neglected — and  this 
may  be  true  up  to  a  certain  point — while  the  other  is 
haunted  by  a  blessed  dissatisfaction,  urged  from 
within  to  seek  always  something  better,  and  compel- 
ling circumstances  to  minister  to  the  growth  of  the 
mind.  One  who  would  meet  these  two  again  after 
the  interval  of  a  few  months  would  be  astonished  at 
the  distance  which  has  been  left  between  them  by 
the  stagnation  of  one  and  the  advance  of  the  other. 

Another  danger  is  that  of  becoming  dogmatic  and 
dictatorial  from  the  habit  of  dealing  with  less  mature 
intelligences,  from  the  absence  of  contradiction  and 
friction  among  equals,  and  the  want  of  that  most 
perfect  discipline  of  the  mind —  intercourse  with  intel- 
lectual superiors.  Of  course  it  is  a  mark  of  ignorance 
to  become  oracular  and  self-assured,  but  it  needs 
watchfulness  to  guard  against  the  tendency  if  one  is 
always  obliged  to  take  the  lead.  Teaching  likewise 
exposes  to  faults  perhaps  less  in  themselves  but  far- 
reaching  in  their  effect  upon  children ;  a  little  obser- 
vation will  show  how  the  smallest  peculiarities  tell 
upon  them,  either  by  affecting  their  dispositions  or 
being  caught  by  them  and  reproduced.  To  take  one 
example  among  many,  the  pitch  and  intonation  of 
the  voice  often  impress  more  than  the  words.  A 
nurse  with  a  querulous  tone  has  a  restless  nursery; 
she  makes  the  high-spirited  contradictory  and  the  deli- 
cate fretful.  In  teaching,  a  high-pitched  voice  is  excit- 
ing and  wearing  to  children ;  certain  cadences  that  end 
on  a  high  note  rouse  opposition,  a  monotonous  inton- 


54          THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

ation  wearies,  deeper  and  more  ample  tones  are 
quieting  and  reassuring,  but  if  their  solemnity  be- 
comes exaggerated  they  provoke  a  reaction.  Most 
people  have  a  certain  cadence  which  constantly  recurs 
in  their  speaking  and  is  characteristic  of  them,  and 
the  satisfaction  of  listening  to  them  depends  largely 
upon  this  characteristic  cadence.  It  is  also  a  help  in 
the  understanding  of  their  characters.  Much  trouble 
of  mind  is  saved  by  recognizing  that  a  certain  ca- 
dence which  sounds  indignant  is  only  intended  to  be 
convincing,  and  that  another  which  sounds  defiant 
is  only  giving  to  itself  the  signal  for  retreat.  Again, 
for  the  teacher's  own  sake,  it  is  good  to  observe  that 
there  are  tones  which  dispose  towards  obedience, 
and  others  which  provoke  remonstrance  and,  as 
Mme.  Necker  de  Saussure  remarks :  "  It  is  of  great 
consequence  to  prevent  remonstrances  and  not  allow 
girls  to  form  a  habit  of  contradicting  and  cavilling, 
or  to  prolong  useless  opposition  which  annoys  others 
and  disturbs  their  own  peace  of  mind  ". 

There  are  "  teacher's  manners  "  in  many  varieties, 
often  spoiling  admirable  gifts  and  qualities,  for  the 
professional  touch  in  this  is  not  a  grace  but  puts  both 
children  and  "  grown-ups  "  on  the  defensive.  There 
is  the  head  mistress's  manner  which  is  a  signal 
to  proceed  with  caution,  the  modern  **  form  mistress's  " 
or  class  mistress's  manner,  with  an  off-hand  tone 
destined  to  reassure  by  showing  that  there  is  nothing 
to  be  afraid  of,  the  science  mistress's  manner  with  a 
studied  quietness  and  determination  that  the  knife- 
edge  of  the  balance  shall  be  the  standard  of  truth- 
fulness, the  professionally  encouraging  manner,  the 


CHARACTER  H.  BB 

"  stimulating  "  manner,  the  manner  of  those  whose 
ambition  is  to  be  "  an  earnest  teacher,"  the  strained 
tone  of  one  whose  ideal  is  to  to  be  overworked,  the 
kindergarten  manner,  scientifically  "  awakening," 
giving  the  call  of  the  decoy-duck,  confidentially  in- 
viting co-operation  and  revealing  secrets — these  are 
types,  but  there  are  many  others. 

Such  mannerisms  would  seem  to  be  developed  by 
reliance  on  books  of  method,  by  professional  training 
imparted  to  those  who  have  not  enough  originality 
to  break  through  the  mould,  and  instead  of  following 
out  principles  as  lines  for  personal  experiment  and 
discovery,  deaden  them  into  rules  and  abide  by  them. 
The  teacher's  manner  is  much  more  noticeable  among 
those  who  have  been  trained  than  among  the  now 
vanishing  class  of  those  who  have  had  to  stand  or 
fall  by  their  own  merits,  and  find  out  their  own 
methods.  The  advantage  is  not  always  with  the 
trained  teacher  even  now,  and  the  question  of  manner 
is  not  one  of  minor  importance.  The  true  instinct 
of  children  and  the  sensitiveness  of  youth  detect  very 
quickly  and  resent  a  professional  tone  ;  a  child  looks 
for  freedom  and  simplicity,  and  feels  cramped  if  it 
meets  with  something  even  a  little  artificial. 
Children  like  to  find  real  people,  not  anxiously 
careful  to  improve  them,  but  able  to  take  life  with  a 
certain  spontaneity  as  they  like  to  take  it  themselves. 
They  are  frightened  by  those  who  take  themselves 
too  seriously,  who  are  too  acute,  too  convincing  or 
too  brilliant ;  they  do  not  like  people  who  appear  to  be 
always  on  the  alert,  nor  those  of  extreme  tempera- 
tures, very  ardent  or  very  frigid.     The  people  whom 


66  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

they  like  and  trust  are  usually  quiet,  simple  people, 
who  have  not  startling  ways,  and  do  not  manifest 
those  strenuous  ideals  which  destroy  all  sense  of  leisure 
in  life. 

Not  only  little  children  but  those  who  are  growing 
up  resent  these  mannerisms  and  professional  ways. 
They,  too,  ask  for  a  certain  spontaneity  and  like  to 
find  a  real  person  whom  they  can  understand. 
Abstract  principles  do  not  appeal  to  them,  but  they 
can  understand  and  appreciate  character,  not  in  one 
type  and  pattern  alone,  for  every  character  that  has 
life  and  truth  commands  their  respect  and  is  accept- 
able in  one  way  if  not  in  another.  It  is  not  the  bright 
colours  of  character  alone  which  attract  them,  they 
often  keep  a  lifelong  remembrance  of  those  whose 
qualities  are  anything  but  showy.  They  look  for 
fairness  in  those  who  govern  them,  but  if  they  find 
this  they  can  accept  a  good  measure  of  severity. 
They  respect  unflinching  uprightness  and  are  quick 
to  detect  the  least  deviation  from  it.  They  prefer  to 
be  taken  seriously  on  their  own  ground;  things  in 
general  are  so  incomprehensible  that  it  only  makes 
matters  worse  to  be  approached  with  playful  methods 
and  facetious  invitations  into  the  unknovini,  for  who 
can  tell  what  educational  ambush  for  their  improve- 
ment may  be  concealed  behind  these  demonstrations. 
They  give  their  confidence  more  readily  to  grave  and 
quiet  people  who  do  not  show  too  rapturous  delight 
in  their  performances,  or  surprise  at  their  opinions, 
or — especially — distress  at  their  ignorance.  They 
admire  with  lasting  admiration  those  who  are  hard 
on  themselves  and  take  their  troubles  without  com- 


CHARACTER  II.  87 

ment  or  complaint.  They  admire  courage,  and  they 
can  appreciate  patience  if  it  does  not  seem  to  be  con- 
scious of  itself.  But  they  do  not  look  up  to  a  character 
in  which  mildness  so  predominates  that  it  cannot  be 
roused  to  indignation  and  even  anger  in  a  good  cause. 
A  power  of  being  roused  is  felt  as  a  force  in  reserve, 
and  the  knowledge  that  it  is  there  is  often  enough  to 
maintain  peace  and  order  without  any  need  for  inter- 
ference or  remonstrance.  They  are  offended  by  a 
patience  which  looks  like  weariness,  determined  if  it 
were  at  the  last  gasp  to  "  improve  the  occasion  "  and 
say  something  of  educational  profit.  To  **  improve 
the  occasion  "  really  destroys  the  opportunity ;  it  is 
like  a  too  expansive  invitation  to  birds  to  come  and 
feed,  which  drives  them  off  in  a  flutter.  Birds  come 
most  willingly  when  crumbs  are  thrown  as  it  were 
by  accident  while  the  benefactor  looks  another  way ; 
and  young  minds  pick  up  gratefully  a  suggestion 
which  seems  to  fall  by  the  way,  a  mere  hint  that 
things  are  understood  and  cared  about,  that  there  is 
safety  beyond  the  thin  ice  if  one  trusts  and  believes, 
that  "  all  shall  be  well  "  if  people  will  be  true  to  their 
best  thoughts.  They  can  understand  these  assurances 
and  accept  them  when  something  more  explicit  would 
drive  them  back  to  bar  the  door  against  intruders. 
All  these  are  truisms  to  those  who  have  ob- 
served children.  The  misfortune  is  that  in  spite  of 
the  prominence  given  to  training  of  teachers,  of  the 
new  name  of  "  Child  Study  "  and  its  manuals,  there 
are  many  who  teach  children  without  reaching  their 
real  selves.  If  the  children  could  combine  the  result 
of  their  observations  and  bring  out   a  manual  of 


58  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

"  Teacher  Study  "  we  should  have  strange  revelations 
as  to  how  it  looks  from  the  other  side.  We  should 
be  astonished  at  the  shrewdness  of  the  small  juries 
that  deliberate,  and  the  insight  of  the  judges  that  pro- 
nounce sentence  upon  us,  and  we  should  be  convinced 
that  to  obtain  a  favourable  verdict  we  needed  very 
little  subtlety,  and  not  too  much  theory,  but  as  much 
as  possible  of  the  very  things  we  look  for  as  the  result 
and  crown  of  our  work.  We  labour  to  produce  char- 
acter, we  must  have  it.  We  look  for  courage  and 
uprightness,  we  must  bring  them  with  us.  We  want 
honest  work,  we  have  to  give  proof  of  it  ourselves. 
And  so  with  the  Christian  qualities  which  we  hope  to 
build  on  these  foundations.  We  care  for  the  faith  of 
the  children,  it  must  abound  in  us.  We  care  for  the 
innocence  of  their  life,  we  must  ourselves  be  heavenly- 
minded,  we  want  them  to  be  unworldly  and  ready  to 
make  sacrifices  for  their  religion,  they  must  under- 
stand that  it  is  more  than  all  the  world  to  us.  We 
want  to  secure  them  as  they  grow  up  against  the 
spirit  of  pessimism,  our  own  imperturbable  hope  in 
God  and  confidence  in  the  Church  will  be  more  con- 
vincing than  our  arguments.  We  want  them  to 
grow  into  the  fulness  of  charity,  we  must  make 
charity  the  most  lovable  and  lovely  thing  in  the  world 
to  them. 

The  Church  possesses  the  secrets  of  these  things ; 
she  is  the  great  teacher  of  all  nations  and  brings  out 
of  her  treasury  things  new  and  old  for  the  training 
of  her  children.  A  succession  of  teaching  orders  of 
religious,  representing  different  patterns  of  education, 
has  gone  forth  with  her  blessing  to  supply  the  needs 


CHARACTER  II.  69 

of  succeeding  generations  in  each  class  of  the  Chris- 
tian community.  When  children  cannot  be  brought 
up  in  their  own  homes,  religious  seem  to  be  desig- 
nated as  their  natural  guardians,  independent  as  they 
are  by  their  profession  from  the  claims  of  personal 
interest  and  self-advancement,  and  therefore  free  to 
give  their  full  sympathy  and  devotion  to  the  children 
under  their  charge.  They  have  also  the  indepen- 
dence of  their  corporate  life,  a  great  power  behind 
the  service  of  the  schoolroom  in  which  they  find 
mutual  support,  an  "  Upper  Koom  "  to  which  they 
can  withdraw  and  build  up  again  in  prayer  and  inter- 
course with  one  another  their  ideals  of  life  and  duty 
in  an  atmosphere  which  gives  a  more  spiritual  re- 
renewal  of  energy  than  a  holiday  of  entire  forgetful- 
ness. 

It  is  striking  to  observe  that  while  the  so-called 
Catholic  countries  are  banishing  religious  from  their 
schools,  there  is  more  and  more  inclination  among 
non-Catholic  parents  who  have  had  experience  of 
other  systems  to  place  their  children  under  the  care 
of  religious.  And  it  was  strange  to  hear  one  of  His 
Majesty's  Inspectors  express  his  conviction  that  "  it 
would  be  ideal  if  all  England  could  be  taught  by 
nuns !  "  Thus  indirect  testimony  comes  from  friendly 
or  hostile  sources  to  the  fact  that  the  Church  holds 
the  secret  of  education,  and  every  Catholic  teacher 
may  gain  courage  from  the  knowledge  of  having  that 
which  is  beyond  all  price  in  the  education  of  children, 
that  which  all  the  world  is  seeking  for,  and  which 
the  Church  alone  knows  that  she  possesses  in  its 
fulness. 


CHAPTEE  rV. 

THE  ELEMENTS  OP  CATHOLIC  PHILOSOPHY. 

"  And  let  this  ever  be  lead  to  thy  feet,  to  make  thee  move 
slow,  like  a  weary  man ;  both  to  the  yea  and  nay  thou  seest 
not ; 

for  he  is  right  low  down  among  the  fools  who  maketh  affirma- 
tion or  negation  without  distinction  between  case  and  case ; 
wherefore  it  chanceth  many  times  swift-formed  opinion  leaneth 
the  wrong  way,  and  then  conceit  bindeth  the  intellect. 
Far  worse  than  vainly  doth  he  leave  the  shore,  since  he  return- 
eth  not  as  he  puts  forth,  who  fisheth  for  the  truth  and  hath 
not  the  art." — Dante,  "  Paradiso,"  Can.  xni. 

The  elements  of  Catholic  philosophy  may  no  longer 
be  looked  upon  as  out  of  place  in  the  education  of  our 
girls,  or  as  being  reserved  for  the  use  of  learned  women 
and  girlish  oddities.  They  belong  to  every  well- 
grounded  Catholic  education,  and  the  need  for  them 
will  be  felt  more  and  more.  They  are  wanted  to 
balance  on  the  one  hand  the  unthinking  impulse  of  liv- 
ing for  the  day,  which  asks  no  questions  so  long  as  the 
"fun"  holds  out,  and  on  the  other  to  meet  the  ur- 
gency of  problems  which  press  upon  the  minds  of  the 
more  thoughtful  as  they  grow  up.  When  this  teach- 
ing has  been  long  established  as  part  of  an  educational 
plan  it  has  been  found  to  give  steadiness  and  unity 
to  the  whole ;  something  to  aim  at  from  the  begin- 

60 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  CATHOLIC  PHILOSOPHY    61 

ning,  and  in  the  later  years  of  a  girl's  education  some- 
thing which  will  serve  as  foundation  for  all  branches 
of  future  study,  so  that  each  will  find  its  place  among 
the  first  principles,  not  isolated  from  the  others  but 
as  part  of  a  whole.  The  value  of  these  elements  for 
the  practical  guidance  of  life  is  likewise  very  great. 
A  hold  is  given  in  the  mind  to  the  teaching  of  religion 
and  conduct  which  welds  into  one  defence  the  best 
wisdom  of  this  world  and  of  the  next.  For  instance,  the 
connexion  between  reason  and  faith  being  once  estab- 
lished, the  fear  of  permanent  disagreement  between 
the  two,  which  causes  so  much  panic  and  disturbance 
of  mind,  is  set  at  rest. 

There  is  a  certain  risk  at  the  outset  of  these  studies 
that  girls  will  take  the  pose  of  philosophical  students, 
and  talk  logic  and  metaphysics,  to  the  confusion  of 
their  friends  and  of  their  own  feelings  later  on,  when 
they  come  to  years  of  discretion  and  realize  the  absurd- 
ity of  these  "lively  sallies,"  as  they  would  have  been 
called  in  early  Victorian  times — the  name  alone  might 
serve  as  a  warning  to  the  incautious  !  They  may  per- 
haps go  through  an  argumentative  period  and  trample 
severely  upon  the  opinions  of  those  who  are  not  ready 
to  have  their  majors  "  distinguished  "  and  their  minors 
"conceded,"  and,  especially, their  conclusions  denied. 
But  these  phases  will  be  outlived  and  the  hot-and- 
cold  remembrance  of  them  will  be  sufficient  expia- 
tion, with  the  realization  that  they  did  not  know  much 
when  they  had  taken  in  the  "  beggarly  elements  " 
which  dazzled  them  for  a  moment.  The  more  thought- 
ful minds  will  escape  the  painful  phase  altogether. 

There  are  three  special  classes  among  girls  whose 


62  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

difficulties  of  mind  call  for  attention.  There  are  those 
who  frisk  playfully  along,  taking  the  good  things  of 
life  as  they  come — "  the  more  the  better  " — whom, 
as  children,  it  is  hard  to  call  to  account.  They  are 
lightly  impressed  and  only  for  a  moment  by  the  things 
they  feel,  and  scarcely  moved  at  all  by  the  things  they 
understand.  The  only  side  which  seems  troublesome 
in  their  early  life  is  that  there  is  so  little  hold  upon  it. 
They  are  unembarrassed  and  quite  candid  about  their 
choice ;  it  is  the  enjoyable  good,  life  on  its  pleasant- 
est  side.  And  this  disposition  is  in  the  mind  as  well 
as  in  the  will ;  they  cannot  see  it  in  any  other  way. 
Kestraint  galls  them,  and  their  inclination  is  not  to 
resist  but  to  evade  it.  These  are  kitten-like  children 
in  the  beginning,  and  they  appear  charming.  But 
when  the  kitten  in  them  is  overgrown,  its  playful  eva- 
siveness takes  an  ugly  contour  and  shows  itself  as  want 
of  principle.  The  tendency  to  snatch  at  enjoyment 
hardens  into  a  grasping  sense  of  market  values,  and 
conscience,  instead  of  growing  inexorable,  learns  to  be 
pliant  to  circumstances.  Debts  weigh  lightly,  and 
duties  scarcely  weigh  at  all.  Concealment  and  un- 
truthfulness come  in  very  easily  to  save  the  situation 
in  a  difficulty,  and  once  the  conduct  of  life  is  on  the 
down-grade  it  slides  quickly  and  far,  for  the  sense  of 
responsibility  is  lacking  and  these  natures  own  no 
bond  of  obligation.  They  have  their  touch  of  piety 
in  childhood,  but  it  soon  wears  off,  and  in  its  best  days 
cannot  stand  the  demands  made  upon  it  by  duty  ;  it 
fails  of  its  hold  upon  the  soul,  like  a  religion  without 
a  sacrifice.  In  these  minds  some  notions  of  ethics 
leave  a  barbed  arrow  of  remorse  which  penetrates 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  CATHOLIC  PHILOSOPHY    63 

further  than  piety.  They  may  soothe  themselves  with 
the  thought  that  God  will  easily  forgive,  later  on,  but 
they  cannot  quite  lose  consciousness  of  the  law  which 
does  not  forgive,  of  the  responsibihty  of  human  acts 
and  the  inevitable  punishment  of  wrong-doing  which 
works  itself  out,  till  it  calls  for  payment  of  the  last 
farthing.  And  by  this  rough  way  of  remorse  they 
may  come  back  to  God.  Pope  Leo  XIII  spoke  of  it 
as  their  best  hope,  an  almost  certain  means  of  return. 
The  beautiful  also  may  make  its  appeal  to  these 
natures  on  their  best  side,  and  save  them  preventively 
from  themselves,  but  only  if  the  time  of  study  is  pro- 
longed enough  for  the  laws  of  order  and  beauty  to  be 
made  comprehensible  to  them,  so  that  if  they  admire 
the  best,  remorse  may  have  another  hold  and  reproach 
them  with  a  lowered  ideal. 

In  opposition  to  these  are  the  minds  to  which,  as 
soon  as  they  become  able  to  think  for  themselves,  all 
life  is  a  puzzle,  and  on  every  side,  wherever  they 
turn,  they  are  baffled  by  unanswerable  questions. 
These  questions  are  often  more  insistent  and  more 
troublesome  because  they  cannot  be  asked,  they  have 
not  even  taken  shape  in  the  mind.  But  they  haunt 
and  perplex  it.  Are  they  the  only  ones  who  do  not 
know?  Is  it  clear  to  every  one  else?  This  doubt 
makes  it  difficult  even  to  hint  at  the  perplexity. 
These  are  often  naturally  religious  minds,  and  outside 
the  guidance  of  the  Catholic  Church,  in  search  of 
truth,  they  easily  fall  under  the  injQiuence  of  different 
schools  of  thought  which  take  them  out  of  their 
depth,  and  lead  them  further  and  further  from  the 
reasonable  certainty  about  first  principles  which  they 


64  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

are  in  search  of.  Within  the  Church,  of  course,  they 
can  never  stray  so  far,  and  the  truths  of  faith  supply 
their  deepest  needs.  But  if  they  want  to  know  more, 
to  know  something  of  themselves,  and  to  have  at 
least  some  rational  knowledge  of  the  universe,  then 
to  give  them  a  hold  on  the  elements  of  philosophical 
knowledge  is  indeed  a  mental  if  not  a  spiritual  work 
of  mercy,  for  it  enables  them  to  set  their  ideas  in 
order  by  the  Ught  of  a  few  first  principles,  it  shows 
them  on  what  plane  their  questions  lie,  it  enables 
them  to  see  how  all  knowledge  and  new  experience 
have  connexions  with  what  has  gone  before,  and 
belong  to  a  whole  with  a  certain  fitness  and  propor- 
tion. They  learn  also  thus  to  take  themselves  in 
hand  in  a  reasonable  way ;  they  gain  some  power  of 
attributing  effects  to  their  true  causes,  so  as  neither 
to  be  unduly  alarmed  nor  elated  at  the  various  ex- 
periences through  which  they  will  pass. 

Between  these  two  divisions  lies  a  large  group, 
that  of  the  "average  person,"  not  specially  flighty 
and  not  particularly  thoughtful.  But  the  average 
person  is  of  very  great  importance.  The  greatest 
share  in  the  work  of  the  world  is  probably  done  by 
"average"  people,  not  only  for  the  obvious  reason 
that  there  are  more  of  them,  but  also  because  they 
are  more  accessible,  more  reliable,  and  more  available 
for  all  kinds  of  responsibility  than  those  who  have 
made  themselves  useless  by  want  of  principle,  or 
those  whose  genius  carries  them  away  from  the 
ordinary  line.  They  are  accessible  because  their 
fellow-creatures  are  not  afraid  of  them ;  they  are  not 
too  fine  for  ordinary  wear,  nor  too  original  to  be  able 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  CATHOLIC  PHILOSOPHY    65 

to  follow  a  line  laid  down  for  them,  and  if  they  take 
a  line  of  their  own  it  is  usually  intelligible  to  others. 

To  these  valuable  "  average "  persons  the  impor- 
tance of  some  study  of  the  elements  of  philosophy  is 
very  great.  They  can  hardly  go  through  an  elemen- 
tary course  of  mental  science  without  wishing  to  learn 
more,  and  being  lifted  to  a  higher  plane.  The  weak 
point  in  the  average  person  is  a  tendency  to  sink  into 
the  commonplace,  because  the  consciousness  of  not 
being  brilliant  induces  timidity,  and  timidity  leads  to 
giving  up  effort  and  accepting  a  fancied  impossibiUty 
of  development  which  from  being  supposed,  assumed, 
and  not  disturbed,  becomes  in  the  end  real. 

On  the  other  hand  the  strong  point  of  the  average 
person  is  very  often  common  sense,  that  singular, 
priceless  gift  which  gives  a  touch  of  likeness  among 
those  who  possess  it  in  all  classes,  high  or  low — in 
the  sovereign,  the  judge,  the  ploughman,  or  the 
washerwoman,  a  Ukeness  that  is  somewhat  like  a 
common  language  among  them  and  makes  them 
almost  like  a  class  apart.  Minds  endowed  with  com- 
mon sense  are  an  aristocracy  among  the  "  average," 
and  if  this  quality  of  theirs  is  lifted  above  the 
ordinary  round  of  business  and  trained  in  the  domain 
of  thought  it  becomes  a  sound  and  wide  practical 
judgment.  It  will  observe  a  great  sobriety  in  its 
dealings  with  the  abstract ;  the  concrete  is  its  king- 
dom, but  it  will  rule  the  better  for  having  its  ideas 
systematized,  and  its  critical  power  developed.  Self- 
diffidence  tends  to  check  this  unduly,  and  it  has 
to  be  strengthened  in  reasonably  supporting  its  own 
opinion  which  is  often  instinctively  true,  but  fails 

0 


66  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

to  find  utterance.  It  is  a  help  to  such  persons  if 
they  can  learn  to  follow  the  workings  of  their  own 
mind  and  gain  confidence  in  their  power  to  under- 
stand, and  find  some  intellectual  interest  in  the 
drudgery  which  in  every  order  of  things,  high  or  low, 
is  so  willingly  handed  over  to  their  good  manage- 
ment. These  results  may  not  be  showy,  but  it  is 
a  great  thing  to  strengthen  an  "average"  person, 
and  the  reward  of  doing  so  is  sometimes  the  satis- 
faction of  seeing  that  average  mind  rise  in  later 
years  quite  above  the  average  and  become  a  tower  of 
steady  reflection;  while  to  itself  it  is  a  new  life  to 
gain  a  view  of  things  as  a  whole,  to  find  that  nothing 
stands  alone,  but  that  the  details  which  it  grasps  in 
so  masterly  a  manner  have  their  place  and  meaning 
in  the  scheme  of  the  universe. 

It  is  evident  that  even  this  elementary  knowledge 
cannot  be  given  in  the  earliest  years  of  the  education 
of  girls,  and  that  it  is  only  possible  to  attempt  it  in 
schools  and  school-rooms  where  they  can  be  kept  on 
for  a  longer  time  of  study.  Every  year  that  can  be 
added  to  the  usual  course  is  of  better  value,  and  more 
appreciated,  except  by  those  who  are  restless  to  come 
out  as  soon  as  possible.  No  reference  is  made  here 
to  those  exceptional  cases  in  which  girls  are  allowed 
to  begin  a  course  of  study  at  a  time  when  the 
majority  have  been  obUged  to  finish  their  school  life. 

As  the  elements  of  philosophy  are  not  ordinarily 
found  in  the  curriculum  of  girls'  schools  or  school- 
room plans,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  say  a  few 
words  on  the  method  of  bringing  the  subject  within 
their  reach. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  CATHOLIC  PHILOSOPHY    67 

In  the  first  place  it  should  be  kept  in  view  from  the 
beginning,  and  some  preparation  be  made  for  it  even 
in  teaching  the  elements  of  subjects  which  are  most 
elementary.  Thus  the  study  of  any  grammar  may 
serve  remotely  as  an  introduction  to  logic,  even  Enghsh 
grammar  which,  beyond  a  few  rudiments,  is  a  most 
disinterested  study,  valuable  for  its  by-products  more 
than  for  its  actual  worth.  But  the  practice  of  gram- 
matical analysis  is  certainly  a  preparation  for  logic, 
as  logic  is  a  preparation  for  the  various  branches  of 
philosophy.  Again  some  preliminary  exercises  in 
definition,  and  any  work  of  the  like  kind  which  gives 
precision  in  the  use  of  language,  or  clear  ideas  of  the 
meanings  of  words,  is  preparatory  work  which  trains 
the  mind  in  the  right  direction.  In  the  same  way  the 
elements  of  natural  science  may  at  least  set  the 
thoughts  and  inquiries  of  children  on  the  right  track 
for  what  will  later  on  be  shown  to  them  as  the  "  dis- 
ciplines "  of  cosmology  and  pyschology. 

To  make  preparatory  subjects  serve  such  a  purpose 
it  is  obviously  required  that  the  teachers  of  even  young 
children  should  have  been  themselves  trained  in  these 
studies,  so  far  at  least  as  to  know  what  they  are  aiming 
at,  to  be  able  to  lay  foundations  which  will  not  require 
to  be  reconstructed.  It  is  not  the  matter  so  much  as 
the  habits  of  mind  and  work  that  are  remotely  pre- 
pared in  the  early  stages,  but  without  some  knowledge 
of  what  is  coming  afterwards  this  preparation  cannot 
be  made.  In  order  of  arrangement  it  is  not  possible 
for  the  different  branches  to  be  taught  to  girls  accord- 
ing to  their  normal  sequence ;  they  have  to  be  adapted 

to  the  capacity  of  the  minds  and  their  degree  of  develop- 

5  * 


68  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

ment.  Some  branches  cannot  even  be  attempted 
during  the  school-room  years,  except  so  far  as  to  pre- 
pare the  mind  incidentally  during  the  study  of  other 
branches.  The  explanation  of  certain  terms  and 
fundamental  notions  will  serve  as  points  of  departure 
when  opportunities  for  development  are  accessible 
later  on,  as  architects  set  "toothings"  at  the  angles 
of  buildings  that  they  may  be  bonded  into  later  con- 
structions. By  this  means  the  names  of  the  more 
abstruse  branches  are  kept  out  of  sight,  and  it  is  em- 
phasized that  the  barest  elements  alone  are  within 
reach  at  present,  so  that  the  permanent  impression 
may  be — not  "  how  much  I  have  learned,"  but  "how 
little  I  know  and  how  much  there  is  to  learn  ".  This 
secures  at  least  a  fitting  attitude  of  mind  in  those  who 
will  never  go  further,  and  increases  the  thirst  of  those 
who  really  want  more. 

The  most  valuable  parts  of  philosophy  in  the  educa- 
tion of  girls  are  : — 

1.  Those  which  belong  to  the  practical  side — logic, 
for  thought ;  ethics,  for  conduct ;  aesthetics,  for  the 
study  of  the  arts. 

2.  In  speculative  philosophy  the  "  disciplines " 
which  are  most  accessible  and  most  necessary  are 
psychology  and  natural  theology,  which  is  the  very 
crown  of  all  that  they  are  able  to  learn. 

General  metaphysics  and  cosmology,  and  in  pyscho- 
logy  the  subordinate  treatises  of  criteriology  and  idea- 
logy  are  beyond  their  scope. 

Logic,  as  a  science,  is  not  a  suitable  introduc- 
tion, though  some  general  notions  on  the  subject 
are  necessary  as  preliminary  instructions.     Cardinal 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  CATHOLIC  PHILOSOPHY    69 

Mercier  presents  these  under  "  propaBdeutics,"  even 
for  his  grown-up  scholars,  placing  logic  properly 
so  called  in  its  own  rank  as  the  complement  of  the 
other  treatises  of  speculative  philosophy,  seen  in 
retrospect,  a  science  of  rational  order  amongst 
sciences. 

The  "  notions  of  logic"  with  which  he  introduces 
the  other  branches  are,  says  the  Cardinal,  so  plain  that 
it  is  almost  superfluous  to  enumerate  them,  "  tant 
elles  sont  de  simple  hon  sens,"  ^  and  he  disposes  of 
them  in  two  pages  of  his  textbook.  Obviously  this 
is  not  so  simple  when  it  comes  to  preparing  the  fallow 
ground  of  a  girl's  mind  ;  but  it  gives  some  idea  of  the 
proportion  to  be  observed  in  the  use  of  this  instrument 
at  the  outset,  and  may  save  both  the  teacher  and  the 
child  from  beguiling  themselves  to  little  purpose 
among  the  moods  and  figures  of  the  syllogism.  The 
preliminary  notions  of  logic  must  be  developed,  ex- 
tended, and  supplemented  through  the  whole  course  as 
necessity  arises,  just  as  they  have  been  already  antici- 
pated through  the  preparatory  work  done  in  every 
elementary  subject.  This  method  is  not  strictly 
scientific  nor  in  accordance  with  the  full-grown  course 
of  philosophy;  it  only  claims  to  have  " le  simple  hon 
sens  "  in  its  favour,  and  the  testimony  of  experience 
to  prove  that  it  is  of  use.  And  it  cannot  be  said  to 
be  wholly  out  of  rational  order  if  it  follows  the  normal 
development  of  a  growing  mind,  and  answers  questions 
as  they  arise  and  call  for  solution.  It  may  be  a  rustic 
way  of  learning  the  elements  of  philosophy,  but  it 
answers  its  purpose,  and  does  not  interfere  with  more 

*  "Traite  El§mentaire  de  Philosophie,"  Vol.  I,  Introduction. 


70  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GlKLS 

scientific  and  complete  methods  which  may  come  later 
in  order  of  time. 

The  importance  of  the  "discipline"  of  psychology 
can  scarcely  be  over-estimated.  With  that  of  ethics  it 
gives  to  the  minds  of  women  that  which  they  most 
need  for  the  happy  attainment  of  their  destiny  in  any 
sphere  of  life  and  for  the  fulfilment  of  its  obligations. 
They  must  know  themselves  and  their  own  powers 
in  order  to  exercise  control  and  direction  on  the  current 
of  their  lives.  The  complaint  made  of  many  women 
is  that  they  are  wanting  in  self-control,  creatures  of 
impulse,  erratic,  irresponsible,  at  the  mercy  of  chance 
influences  that  assume  control  of  their  lives  for  the 
moment,  subject  to  "  nerves,"  carried  away  by  emo- 
tional enthusiasm  beyond  all  bounds,  and  using  a 
blind  tenacity  of  will  to  land  themselves  with  the 
cause  they  have  embraced  in  a  dead- lock  of  absurdity. 

Such  is  the  complaint.  It  would  seem  more  par- 
donable if  this  tendency  to  extremes  and  impulsive- 
ness were  owned  to  as  a  defect.  But  to  be  erratic  is 
almost  assumed  as  a  pose.  It  is  taken  up  as  if  self- 
discipline  were  dull,  and  control  reduced  vitality  and 
killed  the  interest  of  life.  The  phase  may  not  last, 
stronger  counsels  may  prevail  again.  In  a  few  years 
it  may  be  hoped  that  this  school  of  "impressionism" 
in  conduct  will  be  out  of  vogue,  but  for  the  moment 
it  would  seem  as  if  its  weakness  and  mobility,  and 
restlessness  were  rather  admired.  It  has  created  a 
kind  of  automobilism — if  the  word  may  be  allowed — 
of  mind  and  manners,  an  inclination  to  be  perpetually 
"  on  the  move,"  too  much  pressed  for  time  to  do  any- 
thing at  all,  permanently  unsettled,  in  fact  to  be  wn- 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  CATHOLIC  PHILOSOPHY    71 

settled  is  its  habitual  condition  if  not  its  recognized 
plan  of  life. 

It  is  not  contended  that  psychology  and  ethics 
would  of  themselves  cure  this  tendency,  but  they 
would  undoubtedly  aid  in  doing  so,  for  the  confusion 
of  wanting  to  do  better  and  yet  not  knowing  what  to 
do  is  a  most  pathetic  form  of  helplessness.  A  little 
knowledge  of  psychology  would  at  least  give  an  idea 
of  the  resources  which  the  human  soul  has  at  its 
command  when  it  seeks  to  take  itself  in  hand.  It 
would  allow  of  some  response  to  a  reasonable  appeal 
from  outside.  And  all  the  time  the  first  principles 
of  ethics  would  refuse  to  be  killed  in  the  mind,  and 
would  continue  to  bear  witness  against  the  waste  of 
existence  and  the  diversion  of  life  from  its  true 
end. 

Kational  principles  of  aesthetics  belong  very  in- 
timately to  the  education  of  women.  Their  ideas  of 
beauty,  their  taste  in  art,  influence  very  powerfully 
their  own  lives  and  those  of  others,  and  may  trans- 
figure many  things  which  are  otherwise  liable  to  fall 
into  the  commonplace  and  the  vulgar.  If  woman's 
taste  is  trained  to  choose  the  best,  it  upholds  a  standard 
which  may  save  a  generation  from  decadence.  This 
concerns  the  beautiful  and  the  fitting  in  all  things 
where  the  power  of  art  makes  itself  felt  as  "  the 
expression  of  an  ideal  in  a  concrete  work  capable  of 
producing  an  impression  and  attaching  the  beholder 
to  that  ideal  which  it  presents  for  admiration  "}  It 
touches  on  all  questions  of  taste,  not  only  in  the  fine 
arts  but  in  fiction,  and  furniture,  and  dress,  and  all 
*  Cardinal  Mercier,  "Greneral  Metaphysics,"  Ch.  iv. 


72  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

the  minor  arts  of  life  and  adaptation  of  human  skill 
to  the  external  conditions  of  living.  The  importance 
of  all  these  in  their  effect  on  the  happiness  and 
goodness  of  a  whole  people  is  a  plea  for  not  leav- 
ing out  the  principles  of  assthetics,  as  well  as  the 
practice  of  some  form  of  art  from  the  education  of 
girls. 

The  last  and  most  glorious  treatise  in  philosophy 
of  which  some  knowledge  can  be  given  at  the  end  of 
a  school  course  is  that  of  natural  theology.  If  it  is 
true,  as  they  say,  that  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  at  the  age 
of  five  years  used  to  go  round  to  the  monks  of  Monte 
Cassino  pulling  them  down  by  the  sleeve  to  whisper 
his  inquiry,  "  quid  est  Deus  "  ?  it  may  be  hoped  that 
older  children  are  not  incapable  of  appreciating  some 
of  the  first  notions  that  may  be  drawn  from  reason 
about  the  Creator,  those  truths  "concerning  the 
existence  of  God  which  are  the  supreme  conclusion 
and  crown  of  the  department  of  physics,  and  those 
concerning  His  nature  which  apply  the  truths  of 
general  metaphysics  to  a  determinate  being,  the 
Absolutely  Perfect  "}  It  is  in  the  domain  of  natu- 
ral theology  that  they  will  often  find  a  safeguard 
against  difficulties  which  may  occur  later  in  life, 
when  they  meet  inquirers  whose  questions  about  God 
are  not  so  ingenuous  as  that  of  the  infant  St.  Thomas. 
The  armour  of  their  faith  will  not  be  so  easily  pierced 
by  chance  shots  as  if  they  were  without  preparation, 
and  at  the  same  time  they  vsdll  know  enough  of  the 
greatness  of  the  subject  not  to  challenge  "  any  un- 
behever"  to  single  combat,  and  undertake  to  prove 
'  Cardinal  Mercier,  "Natural  Theology,"  Introduction. 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  CATHOLIC  PHILOSOPHY    73 

against  all  opponents  the  existence  and  perfections 
of  God. 

For  instruction  as  well  as  for  defence  the  relation 
of  philosophy  to  revealed  truth  should  be  explained. 
It  is  necessary  to  point  out  that  while  science  has  its 
own  sphere  within  which  it  is  independent,  having 
its  own  principles  and  methods  and  means  of  certitude,^ 
yet  the  Church  as  the  guardian  of  revealed  truth  is 
obliged  to  prosecute  for  trespass  those  who  in  teach- 
ing any  science  encroach  by  affirmation  or  contradic- 
tion on  the  domain  of  revelation. 

To  sum  up,  therefore,  logic  can  train  the  students 
to  discriminate  between  good  and  bad  arguments, 
which  few  ordinary  readers  can  do,  and  not  even 
every  writer.  Ethics  teaches  the  rational  basis  of 
morals  which  it  is  useful  for  all  to  know,  and  psycho- 
logy can  teach  to  discriminate  between  the  acts  of  in- 
tellect and  will  on  the  one  hand  and  imagination  and 
emotion  on  the  other,  and  so  furnish  the  key  to  many 
a  puzzle  of  thought  that  has  led  to  false  and  danger- 
ous theorizing. 

The  method  of  giving  instruction  in  the  different 
branches  of  philosophy  will  depend  so  much  on  the 
preparation  of  the  particular  pupils,  and  also  on  the 
cast  of  mind  of  the  teachers,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
offer  suggestions,  except  to  point  out  this  very  fact 
that  each  mind  needs  to  be  met  just  where  it  is — 
with  its  own  mental  images,  vocabulary,  habit  of 
thought  and  attention,  all  calling  for  consideration 

'  De  Bonald  and  others  were  condemned  and  reproved  by 
Gregory  XVI  for  teaching  that  reason  drew  its  first  principles 
and  grounds  of  certitude  from  revelation.  ^ 


74  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

and  adaptation  of  the  subject  to  their  particular  case. 
It  depends  on  the  degree  of  preparation  of  the  teachers 
to  decide  whether  the  form  of  a  lecture  is  safest,  or 
whether  they  can  risk  themselves  in  the  arena  of 
question  and  answer,  the  most  useful  in  itself  but  re- 
quiring a  far  more  complete  training  in  preparation. 
If  it  can  be  obtained  that  the  pupils  state  their  own 
questions  and  difficulties  in  writing,  a  great  deal  will 
have  been  gained,  for  a  good  statement  of  a  question 
is  half-way  to  the  right  solution.  If,  after  hearing  a 
lecture  or  oral  lesson,  they  can  answer  in  writing 
some  simple  questions  carefully  stated,  it  will  be  a 
further  advance.  It  is  something  to  grasp  accurately 
the  scope  of  a  question.  The  plague  of  girls'  answers 
is  usually  irrelevancy  from  want  of  thought  as  to  the 
scope  of  questions  or  even  from  inattention  to  their 
wording.  If  they  can  be  patient  in  face  of  unanswered 
difficulties,  and  wait  for  the  solution  to  come  later  on 
in  its  natural  course,  then  at  least  one  small  fruit  of 
their  studies  will  have  been  brought  to  maturity  ;  and 
if  at  the  end  of  their  elementary  course  they  are  con- 
vinced of  their  own  ignorance,  and  want  to  know 
more,  it  may  be  said  that  the  course  has  not  been 
unsuccessful. 

It  is  not,  however,  complete  unless  they  know 
something  of  the  history  of  philosophy,  the  great 
schools,  and  the  names  which  have  been  held  in 
honour  from  the  beginning  down  to  our  own  days. 
They  will  realize  that  it  is  good  to  have  been  born  in 
their  own  time,  and  to  learn  such  lessons  now  that 
the  revival  of  scholastic  philosophy  under  Leo  XIII 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  CATHOLIC  PHILOSOPHY    75 

and  the  development  of  the  neo-scholastic  teaching 
have  brought  fresh  life  into  the  philosophy  of  tra- 
dition, which  although  it  appears  to  put  new  wine 
into  old  bottles,  seems  able  to  preserve  the  wine  and 
the  bottles  together. 


CHAPTEE  V. 

THE  REALITIES  OF  LIFE. 

"  He  fixed  thee  mid  this  dance 
Of  plastic  circumstance, 

This  Present,  thou,  forsooth,  wouldst  fain  arrest : 
Machinery  just  meant 
To  give  thy  soul  its  bent, 

Try  thee  and  turn  thee  forth,  suflBciently  impressed." 
Browning,  "Rabbi  Ben  Ezra ". 
''  Eh,  Dieu  !  nous  marchons  trop  en  enfants — cela  me  fache  ! " 
St.  Jane  Feancbs  db  Chaiteal. 

One  of  the  problems  which  beset  school  education, 
and  especially  education  in  boarding  schools,  is  the 
difficulty  of  combining  the  good  things  it  can  give 
with  the  best  preparation  for  after  life.  This  pre- 
paration has  to  be  made  under  circumstances  which 
necessarily  keep  children  away  from  many  of  the 
realities  that  have  to  be  faced  in  the  future. 

To  be  a  small  member  of  a  large  organization  has 
an  excellent  effect  upon  the  mind.  From  the  pres- 
ence of  numbers  a  certain  dignity  gathers  round 
many  things  that  would  in  themselves  be  insignifi- 
cant. Ideas  of  corporate  life  with  its  obligations  and 
responsibilities  are  gained.  Honoured  traditions  and 
ideals  are  handed  down  if  the  school  has  a  history 
and  spirit  of  its  own.  There  are  impressive  and 
solemn  moments  in  the  life  of  a  large  school  which 

76 


THE  REALITIES  OF  LIFE  77 

remain  in  the  memory  as  something  beautiful  and 
great.  The  close  of  a  year,  with  its  retrospect  and 
anticipation,  its  restrained  emotion  from  the  pathos 
which  attends  all  endings  and  beginnings  in  life,  fills 
even  the  younger  children  with  some  transient  realiz- 
ation of  the  meaning  of  it  all,  and  lifts  them  up  to  a 
dim  sense  of  the  significance  of  existence,  while  for 
the  elder  ones  such  days  leave  engraven  upon  the 
mind  thoughts  which  can  never  be  effaced.  These 
deep  impressions  belong  especially  to  old-established 
schools,  and  are  bound  up  with  their  past,  with  their 
traditional  tone,  and  the  aims  that  are  specially  theirs. 
In  this  they  cannot  be  rivalled.  The  school-room  at 
home  is  always  the  school-room,  it  has  no  higher 
moods,  no  sentiment  of  its  own. 

There  are  diversities  of  gifts  for  school  and  for 
home  education ;  for  impressiveness  a  large  school 
has  the  advantage.  It  is  also,  in  general,  better  off 
in  the  quality  of  its  teachers,  and  it  can  turn  their 
gifts  to  better  account.  A  modern  governess  would 
require  to  be  a  host  in  herself  to  supply  the  varied 
demands  of  a  girl's  education,  in  the  subjects  to  be 
taught,  in  companionship  and  personal  influence,  in 
the  training  of  character,  in  watching  over  physical 
development,  and  even  if  she  should  possess  in  her- 
self all  that  would  be  needed,  there  is  the  risk  of 
"incompatibility  of  temperament"  which  makes  a 
Ute-d-Ute  life  in  the  school-room  trying  on  both  sides. 
School  has  the  advantage  of  bringing  the  influence 
of  many  minds  to  bear,  so  that  it  is  rare  that  a  child 
should  pass  through  a  school  course  without  coming 
in  contact  with  some  who  awaken  and  understand 


78  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

and  influence  her  for  good.  It  offers  too  the  chance 
of  making  friends,  and  though  "  sets  "  and  cliques, 
plagues  of  school  life,  may  give  trouble  and  unsettle 
the  weaker  minds  from  time  to  time,  yet  if  the 
current  of  the  school  is  healthy  it  will  set  against 
them,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  choicest  and  best 
friendships  often  begin  and  grow  to  maturity  in  the 
common  life  of  school.  The  sodalities  and  congre- 
gations in  Catholic  schools  are  training  grounds 
within  the  general  system  of  training,  in  which 
higher  ideals  are  aimed  at,  the  obligation  of  using 
influence  for  good  is  pressed  home,  and  the  instincts 
of  leadership  turned  to  account  for  the  common 
good.  Lastly,  among  the  advantages  of  school  may 
be  counted  a  general  purpose  and  plan  in  the  curri- 
culum, and  better  appliances  for  methodical  teaching 
than  are  usually  available  in  private  school-rooms, 
and  where  out-door  games  are  in  honour  they  add  a 
great  zest  to  school  life. 

But,  as  in  all  human  things,  there  are  drawbacks  to 
school  education,  and  because  it  is  in  the  power  of 
those  who  direct  its  organization  to  counteract  some 
of  these  drawbacks,  it  is  worth  while  to  examine 
them  and  consider  the  possible  remedies. 

In  the  first  place  it  will  probably  be  agreed  that 
boarding-school  life  is  not  desirable  for  very  young 
children,  as  their  well-being  requires  more  elasticity 
in  rule  and  occupations  than  is  possible  if  they  are 
together  in  numbers.  Little  children,  out  of  control 
and  excited,  are  a  misery  to  themselves  and  to  each 
other,  and  if  they  are  kept  in  hand  enough  to  protect 
the  weaker  ones  from  the  exuberant  energy  of  the 


THE  REALITIES  OF  LIFE  79 

stronger,  then  the  strictness  chafes  them  all,  and 
spontaneity  is  too  much  checked.  The  informal  play 
which  is  possible  at  home,  with  the  opportunities  for 
quiet  and  even  solitude,  are  much  better  for  young 
children  than  the  atmosphere  of  school,  though  a 
day-school,  with  the  hours  of  home  life  in  between, 
is  sometimes  successfully  adapted  to  their  wants. 
But  the  special  cases  which  justify  parents  in  sending 
young  children  to  boarding  schools  are  numerous, 
now  that  established  home  life  is  growing  more  rare, 
and  they  have  to  be  counted  with  in  any  large  school. 
It  can  only  be  said  that  the  yoke  ought  to  be  made 
as  light  as  possible — short  lessons,  long  sleep,  very 
short  intervals  of  real  application  of  mind,  as  much 
open  air  as  possible,  bright  rooms,  and  a  mental 
atmosphere  that  tends  to  calm  rather  than  to  excite 
them.  They  should  be  saved  from  the  petting  of  the 
elder  girls,  in  whom  this  apparent  kindness  is  often  a 
selfish  pleasure,  bad  on  both  sides. 

For  older  children  the  difficulties  are  not  quite  the 
same,  and  instead  of  forcing  them  on  too  fast,  school 
life  may  even  keep  them  back.  When  children 
are  assembled  together  in  considerable  numbers  the 
intellectual  level  is  that  of  the  middle  class  of  mind 
and  does  not  favour  the  best,  the  outlook  and  con- 
versation are  those  of  the  average,  the  language  and 
vocabulary  are  on  the  same  level,  with  a  tendency  to 
sink  rather  than  to  rise,  and  though  emulation  may 
urge  on  the  leading  spirits  and  keep  them  at  racing 
speed,  this  does  not  quicken  the  interest  in  know- 
ledge for  its  own  sake,  and  the  work  is  apt  to  slacken 
when  the  stimulus  is  withdrawn.    And  all  the  time 


80          THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

there  is  comfort  to  the  easy-going  average  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  how  many  there  are  behind  them. 

The  necessity  for  organization  and  foresight  in 
detail  among  large  numbers  is  also  unfavourable  to  in- 
dividual development.  For  children  to  find  every- 
thing prepared  for  them,  to  feel  no  friction  in  the 
working  of  the  machinery,  so  that  all  happens  as 
it  ought  to,  without  effort  and  personal  trouble  on 
their  part,  to  be  told  what  to  do,  and  only  have  to 
follow  the  bells  for  the  ordering  of  their  time — all  this 
tends  to  diminish  their  resourcefulness  and  their 
patience  with  the  unforeseen  checks  and  cross-pur- 
poses and  mistakes  that  they  will  have  to  put  up 
with  on  leaving  school.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  more 
perfect  the  school  machinery,  the  smoother  its  work- 
ing, the  less  does  it  prepare  for  the  rutty  road  after- 
wards, and  in  this  there  is  some  consolation  when 
school  machinery  jars  from  time  to  time  in  the  work- 
ing ;  if  it  teaches  patience  it  is  not  altogether  regret- 
table, and  the  little  trouble  which  may  arise  in  the 
material  order  is  perhaps  more  educating  than  the 
regularity  which  has  been  disturbed. 

We  are  beginning  to  believe  what  has  never  ceased 
to  be  said,  that  lessons  in  lesson-books  are  not  the 
whole  of  education.  The  whole  system  of  teaching  in 
the  elementary  schools  has  been  thrown  off  its  balance 
by  too  many  lesson-books,  but  it  is  righting  itself 
again,  and  some  of  the  memoranda  on  teaching, 
issued  by  the  Board  of  Education  within  the  last  few 
years,  are  quite  admirable  in  their  practical  sugges- 
tions for  promoting  a  more  efficient  preparation  for 
life.     The  Board   now  insists  on   the  teaching  of 


THE  REALITIES  OF  LIFE  81 

handicrafts,  training  of  the  senses  in  observation, 
development  of  knowledge,  taste,  and  skill  in  various 
departments  which  are  useful  for  hfe,  and  for  girls 
especially  on  things  which  make  the  home.  The 
same  thing  is  wanted  in  middle-class  education, 
though  parents  of  the  middle-class  still  look  a 
little  askance  at  household  employments  for  their 
daughters.  But  children  of  the  wealthier  and 
upper  classes  take  to  them  as  a  birthright,  with  the 
cordial  assent  of  their  parents  and  the  applause  of 
the  doctors.  It  is  for  these  children,  so  well-disposed 
for  a  practical  education,  and  able  to  carry  its  influ- 
ence so  far,  that  we  may  consider  what  can  be  done 
in  school  life. 

We  ourselves  who  have  to  do  with  children  must 
first  appreciate  the  realities  of  hfe  before  we  can 
communicate  this  understanding  to  others  or  give 
the  right  spirit  to  those  we  teach.  And  "  the  realities 
of  Ufe"  may  stand  as  a  name  for  all  those  things 
which  have  to  be  learned  in  order  to  Hve,  and  which 
lesson-books  do  not  teach.  The  realities  of  Ufe  are 
not  material  things,  but  they  are  very  deeply  wrought 
in  with  material  things.  There  are  things  to  be  done, 
and  things  to  be  made,  and  things  to  be  ordered  and 
controlled,  belonging  to  the  primitive  wants  of  human 
life,  and  to  all  those  fundamental  cares  which  have 
to  support  it.  They  are  best  learned  in  the  actual 
doing  from  those  who  know  how  to  do  them ;  for 
although  manuals  and  treatises  exist  for  every  pos- 
sible department  of  skill  and  activity,  yet  the  human 
voice  and  hand  go  much  further  in  making  knowledge 

acceptable  than  the  textbook  with  diagrams.     The 

6 


82  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

dignity  of  manual  laboar  comes  home  from  seeing  it 
well  done,  it  is  shown  to  be  worth  doing  and  deserv- 
ing of  honour. 

Something  which  cannot  be  shown  to  children, 
but  it  will  come  to  them  later  on  as  an  inheritance, 
is  the  effect  of  manual  work  upon  their  whole  being. 
Manual  work  gives  balance  and  harmony  in  the 
development  of  the  growing  creature.  A  child  does 
not  attain  its  full  power  unless  every  faculty  is  exer- 
cised in  turn,  and  to  think  that  hard  mental  work 
alternated  with  hard  physical  exercise  will  give  it  full 
and  wholesome  development  is  to  ignore  whole  pro- 
vinces of  its  possessions.  Generally  speaking  chil- 
dren have  to  take  the  value  of  their  mental  work  on 
the  faith  of  our  word.  They  must  go  through  a 
great  deal  in  mastering  the  rudiments  of,  say,  Latin 
grammar  (for  the  honey  is  not  yet  spread  so  thickly 
over  this  as  it  is  now  over  the  elements  of  modern 
languages).  They  must  wonder  why  "  grown-ups  " 
have  such  an  infatuation  for  things  that  seem  out  of 
place  and  inappropriate  in  life  as  they  consider  it 
worth  living.  Probably  it  is  on  this  account  that  so 
many  artificial  rewards  and  inducements  have  had 
to  be  brought  in  to  sustain  their  efforts.  Physical 
exercise  is  a  joy  to  healthy  children,  but  it  leaves 
nothing  behind  as  a  result.  Children  are  proud 
of  what  they  have  done  and  made  themselves. 
They  lean  upon  the  concrete,  and  to  see  as  the 
result  of  their  efforts  something  which  lasts,  especi- 
ally something  useful,  as  a  witness  to  their  power 
and  skill,  this  is  a  reward  in  itself  and  needs  no 
artificial   stimulus,  though   to   measure    their  own 


THE  REALITIES  OF  LIFE  83 

work  in  comparative  excellence  with  that  of  others 
adds  an  element  that  quickens  the  desire  to  do  well. 
Children  will  go  quietly  back  again  and  again  to  look, 
without  saying  anything,  at  something  they  have 
made  with  their  own  hands,  their  eyes  telling  all  that 
it  means  to  them,  beyond  what  they  can  express. 

With  its  power  of  ministering  to  harmonious  de- 
velopment of  the  faculties  manual  work  has  a  direct 
influence  on  fitness  for  home  and  social  life.  It 
greatly  develops  good  sense  and  aptitude  for  dealing 
with  ordinary  difficulties  as  they  arise.  In  common 
emergencies  it  is  the  "  handy  "  member  of  the  house- 
hold whose  judgment  and  help  are  called  upon,  not 
the  brilliant  person  or  one  who  has  specialized  in 
any  branch,  but  the  one  who  can  do  common  things 
and  can  invent  resources  when  experience  fails. 
When  the  speciaHst  is  at  fault  and  the  artist  waits 
for  inspiration,  the  handy  person  comes  in  and  saves 
the  situation,  unprofessionally,  like  the  bone-setter, 
without  much  credit,  but  to  the  great  comfort  of  every 
one  concerned. 

Manual  work  likewise  saves  from  eccentricity  or 
helps  to  correct  it.  Eccentricity  may  appear  harm- 
less and  even  interesting,  but  in  practice  it  is  found 
to  be  a  drawback,  enfeebling  some  sides  of  a  charac- 
ter, throwing  the  judgment  at  least  on  some  points 
out  of  focus.  In  children  it  ought  to  be  recognized 
as  a  defect  to  be  counteracted.  When  people  have 
an  overmastering  genius  which  of  itself  marks  out 
for  them  a  special  way  of  excellence,  some  degree  of 
eccentricity  is  easily  pardoned,  and  almost  allowable. 
But  eccentricity  unaccompanied  by  genius  is  mere 


84  THE  EDUCATION  OP  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

uncorrected  selfishness,  or  want  of  mental  balance. 
It  is  selfishness  if  it  could  be  corrected  and  is  not, 
because  it  makes  exactions  from  others  without  re- 
turn. It  will  not  adapt  itself  to  them  but  insists  on 
being  taken  as  it  is,  whether  acceptable  or  not.  At 
best,  eccentricity  is  a  morbid  tendency  liable  to  run 
into  extremes  when  its  habits  are  undisturbed.  An 
excuse  sometimes  made  for  eccentricity  is  that  it  is 
a  security  against  any  further  mental  aberration, 
perhaps  on  the  same  principle  that  inoculation  pro- 
ducing a  mild  form  of  diseases  is  sometimes  a  safe- 
guard against  their  attacks.  But  if  the  mind  and 
habits  of  life  can  be  brought  under  control,  so  as  to 
take  part  in  ordinary  affairs  without  attracting  atten- 
tion or  having  exemptions  and  allowance  made  for 
them,  a  result  of  a  far  higher  order  will  have  been 
attained.  To  recognize  eccentricity  as  selfishness  is 
a  first  step  to  its  cure,  and  to  make  oneself  serviceable  to 
others  is  the  simplest  corrective.  Whatever  else  they 
may  be,  "  eccentrics  "  are  not  generally  serviceable. 

Children  of  vivid  imagination,  nervously  excitable 
and  fragile  in  constitution,  rather  easily  fall  into  little 
eccentric  ways  which  grow  very  rapidly  and  are  hard 
to  overcome.  One  of  the  commonest  of  these  is  talk- 
ing to  themselves.  Sitting  still,  making  efforts  to 
apply  their  minds  to  lessons  for  more  than  a  short 
time,  accentuates  the  tendency  by  nerve  fatigue.  In 
reaction  against  fatigue  the  mind  falls  into  a  vacant 
state  and  that  is  the  best  condition  for  the  growth  of 
eccentricities  and  other  mental  troubles.  If  their 
attention  is  diverted  from  themselves,  and  yet  fixed 
with  the  less  exhausting  concentration  which  belongs 


THE  REALITIES  OF  LIFE  86 

to  manual  work,  this  diversion  into  another  channel, 
with  its  accompanying  bodily  movement,  will  restore 
the  normal  balance,  and  the  little  eccentric  pose  will 
be  forgotten,  which  is  better  than  being  noticed  and 
laughed  at  and  formally  corrected. 

Manual  employments,  especially  if  varied,  and 
household  occupations  afford  a  great  variety,  give 
to  children  a  sense  of  power  in  knowing  what  to  do 
in  a  number  of  circumstances ;  they  take  pleasure  in 
this,  for  it  is  a  thing  which  they  admire  in  others. 
Domestic  occupations  also  form  in  them  a  habit  of 
decision,  from  the  necessity  of  getting  through  things 
which  will  not  wait.  For  domestic  duties  do  not 
allow  of  waiting  for  a  moment  of  inspiration  or  de- 
laying until  a  mood  of  depression  or  indifference  has 
passed.  They  have  a  quiet,  imperious  way  of  com- 
manding, and  an  automatic  system  of  punishing 
when  they  are  neglected,  which  are  more  convincing 
than  exhortations.  Perhaps  in  this  particular  point 
lies  their  saving  influence  against  nerves  and  moodi- 
ness and  the  demoralization  of  "  giving  way  ".  Those 
who  have  no  obligations,  whose  work  will  wait  for 
their  convenience,  and  who  can  if  they  please  let 
everything  go  for  a  time,  are  more  easily  broken 
down  by  trouble  than  those  whose  household  duties 
have  still  to  be  done,  in  the  midst  of  sorrow  and  trial. 
There  is  something  in  homely  material  duties  which 
heals  and  calms  the  mind  and  gives  it  power  to  come 
back  to  itself.  And  in  sudden  calamities  those  who 
know  how  to  make  use  of  their  hands  do  not  help- 
lessly wring  them,  or  make  trouble  worse  by  clinging 
to  others  for  support. 


86  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

Again,  circumstances  sometimes  arise  in  school 
life  which  make  light  household  duties  an  untold 
boon  for  particular  children.  Accidental  causes, 
troubles  of  eyesight,  or  too  rapid  growth,  etc.,  may 
make  regular  study  for  a  time  impossible  to  them. 
These  children  become  exempt  persons,  and  even  if 
they  are  able  to  take  some  part  in  the  class  work  the 
time  of  preparation  is  heavy  on  their  hands.  Exempt 
persons  easily  develop  undesirable  qualities,  and  their 
apparent  privileges  are  liable  to  unsettle  others.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  those  who  are  able  to  keep  the  com- 
mon life  have  the  best  of  it,  but  they  are  apt  to  look 
upon  the  exemption  of  others  as  enviable,  as  they 
long  for  gipsy  life  when  a  caravan  passes  by.  With 
the  resource  of  household  employment  to  give  occupa- 
tion it  becomes  apparent  that  exemption  does  not 
mean  holiday,  but  the  substitution  of  one  duty  or 
lesson  for  another,  and  this  is  a  principle  which  holds 
good  in  after  life — that  except  in  case  of  real  illness 
no  one  is  justified  in  having  nothing  to  do. 

Lastly,  the  work  of  the  body  is  good  for  the  soul, 
it  drives  out  silliness  as  effectually  as  the  rod,  since 
that  which  was  of  old  considered  as  the  instrument 
for  exterminating  the  "  folly  bound  up  in  the  heart  of 
a  child,"  has  been  laid  aside  in  the  education  of  girls. 
It  is  a  great  weapon  against  the  seven  devils  of  whom 
one  is  Sloth  and  another  Pride,  and  it  prepares  a  sane 
mind  in  a  sound  body  for  the  discipline  of  after  life. 

Experience  bears  its  own  testimony  to  the  failure 
of  an  education  which  is  out  of  touch  with  the  ma- 
terial requirements  of  life.  It  leaves  an  incomplete 
power  of  expression,  and  some  dead   points  in  the 


THE  REALITIES  OF  LIFE  87 

mind  from  which  no  response  can  be  awakened. 
To  taste  of  many  experiences  seems  to  be  necessary 
for  complete  development.  When  on  the  material 
side  all  is  provided  without  forethought,  and  people 
are  exempt  from  all  care  and  obligation,  a  whole  side 
of  development  is  wanting,  and  on  that  side  the  mind 
remains  childish,  inexperienced,  and  unreal.  The 
best  mental  development  is  accomplished  under  the 
stress  of  many  demands.  One  claim  balances  the 
other;  a  touch  of  hardness  and  privation  gives 
strength  of  mind  and  makes  self-denial  a  reality ;  a 
little  anxiety  teaches  foresight  and  draws  out  re- 
sourcefulness, and  the  tendency  to  fret  about  trifles 
is  corrected  by  the  contact  of  the  realities  of  life. 

To  come  to  practice — What  can  be  done  for  girls 
during  their  years  at  school  ? 

In  the  first  place  the  teaching  of  the  fundamental 
handicraft  of  women,  needlework,  deserves  a  place 
of  honour.  In  many  schools  it  has  almost  perished 
by  neglect,  or  the  thorns  of  the  examination  pro- 
gramme have  grown  up  and  choked  it.  This  mis- 
fortune has  been  fairly  common  where  the  English 
"  University  Locals  "  and  the  Irish  "Intermediate" 
held  sway.  There  Hterally  was  not  time  for  it,  and 
the  loss  became  so  general  that  it  was  taken  as  a 
matter  of  course,  scarcely  regretted ;  to  the  children 
themselves,  so  easily  carried  off  by  vogue,  it  became 
almost  a  matter  for  self-complacency,  "not  to  be 
able  to  hold  a  needle  "  was  accepted  as  an  indication 
of  something  superior  in  attainments.  And  it  must 
be  owned  that  there  were  certain  antiquated  methods 
of  teaching  the  art  which  made  it  quite  excusable  to 


88  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

"hate  needlework".  One  "went  through  so  much 
to  learn  so  little  " ;  and  the  results  depending  so  often 
upon  help  from  others  to  bring  them  to  any  conclu- 
sion, there  was  no  sense  of  personal  achievement 
in  a  work  accomplished.  Others  planned,  cut  out 
and  prepared  the  work,  and  the  child  came  in  as  an 
unwilling  and  imperfect  sewing  machine  merely  to 
put  in  the  stitches.  The  sense  of  mastery  over  ma- 
terial was  not  developed,  yet  that  is  the  only  way  in 
which  a  child's  attainment  of  skill  can  be  linked  on 
to  the  future.  What  cannot  be  done  without  help 
always  at  hand,  drops  out  of  life,  and  likewise  that 
which  calls  for  no  application  of  mind. 

To  reach  independence  in  the  practical  arts  of  life 
is  an  aim  that  will  awaken  interests  and  keep  up 
efforts,  and  teachers  have  only  a  right  to  be  satisfied 
when  their  pupils  can  do  without  them.  This  is  not 
the  finishing  point  of  a  course  of  teaching,  it  is  a  whole 
system,  beginning  in  the  first  steps  and  continuing 
progressively  to  the  end.  It  entails  upon  teachers 
much  labour,  much  thought,  and  the  sacrifice  of  showy 
results.  The  first  look  of  finish  depends  more  upon 
the  help  of  the  teacher  than  upon  the  efforts  of  chil- 
dren. Their  results  must  be  waited  for,  and  they 
will  in  the  early  years  have  a  humbler,  more  rough- 
hewn  look  than  those  in  which  expert  help  has  been 
given.  But  the  educational  advantages  are  not  to  be 
compared. 

A  four  years'  course,  two  hours  per  week,  gives 
a  thorough  grounding  in  plain  needlework,  and 
girls  are  then  capable  of  beginning  dressmaking,  in 
which  they  can  reach  a  very  reasonable  proficiency 


THE  REALITIES  OF  LIFE  89 

when  they  leave  school.  Whether  they  turn  this  to 
practical  account  in  their  own  homes,  or  make  use  of 
it  in  Clothing  Societies  and  Needlework  Guilds  for 
the  poor,  the  knowledge  is  of  real  value.  If  fortune 
deals  hardly  with  them,  and  they  are  thrown  on  their 
own  resources  later  in  life,  it  is  evident  that  to  make 
their  own  clothes  is  a  form  of  independence  for 
which  they  will  be  very  thankful.  Another  branch 
of  needlework  that  ought  to  form  part  of  every 
Catholic  girl's  education  is  that  of  work  for  the 
Church  in  which  there  is  room  for  every  capacity, 
from  the  hemming  of  the  humblest  lavaho  towel  to 
priceless  works  of  art  embroidered  by  queens  for  the 
popes  and  bishops  of  their  time. 

"  First  aid,"  and  a  few  practical  principles  of  nurs- 
ing, can  sometimes  be  profitably  taught  in  school,  if 
time  is  made  for  a  few  lessons,  perhaps  during  one 
term.  The  difficulty  of  finding  time  even  adds  to  the 
educational  value,  since  the  conditions  of  life  outside 
do  not  admit  of  uniform  intervals  between  two  bells. 
Enough  can  be  taught  to  make  girls  able  to  take 
their  share  helpfully  in  cases  of  illness  in  their  homes, 
and  it  is  a  branch  of  usefulness  in  which  a  few  sensible 
notions  go  a  long  way. 

General  self-help  is  difficult  to  define  or  describe, 
but  it  can  be  taught  at  school  more  than  would 
appear  at  first  sight,  if  only  those  engaged  in  the 
education  of  children  will  bear  in  mind  that  the 
triumph  of  their  devotedness  is  to  enable  children  to 
do  without  them.  This  is  much  more  laborious  than 
to  do  things  efficiently  and  admirably  for  them,  but 
it  is  real  education.     They  can  be  taught  as  mothers 


90  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

would  teach  them  at  home,  to  mend  and  keep  their 
things  in  order,  to  prepare  for  journeys,  pack  their 
own  boxes,  be  responsible  for  their  labels  and  keys, 
write  orders  to  shops,  to  make  their  own  beds,  dust 
their  private  rooms,  and  many  other  things  which 
will  readily  occur  to  those  who  have  seen  the  pitiful 
sight  of  girls  unable  to  do  them. 

Finally,  simple  and  elementary  cooking  comes  well 
within  the  scope  of  the  education  of  elder  girls  at 
school.  But  it  must  be  taught  seriously  to  make  it 
worth  while,  and  as  in  the  teaching  of  needlework 
the  foundations  must  be  plain.  To  begin  by  fancy- 
work  in  one  case  and  bonbons  in  the  other  turns  the 
whole  instruction  into  a  farce.  In  this  subject  especi- 
ally, the  satisfaction  of  producing  good  work,  well 
done,  without  help,  is  a  result  which  justifies  all  the 
trouble  that  may  be  spent  upon  it.  When  girls  have, 
by  themselves,  brought  to  a  happy  conclusion  the  pre- 
paration of  a  complete  meal,  their  very  faces  bear 
witness  to  the  educational  value  of  the  success.  They 
are  not  elated  nor  excited,  but  wear  the  look  of  quiet 
contentment  which  seems  to  come  from  contact  with 
primitive  things.  This  look  alone  on  a  girl's  face 
gives  a  beauty  of  its  own,  something  becoming,  and 
fitting,  and  full  of  promise.  No  expression  is  equal 
to  it  in  the  truest  charm,  for  quiet  contentment  is  the 
atmosphere  which  in  the  future,  whatever  may  be  her 
lot,  ought  to  be  diffused  by  her  presence,  an  atmo- 
sphere of  security  and  rest. 

Perhaps  at  first  sight  it  seems  an  exaggeration  to 
hnk  so  closely  together  the  highest  natural  graces  of 
a  woman  with  those  lowliest  occupations,  but  let  the 


THE  REALITIES  ^F  LIFE  91 

effects  be  compared  by  those  who  have  examined 
other  systems  of  instruction.  If  they  have  considered 
the  outcome  of  an  exclusively  intellectual  education 
for  girls,  especially  one  loaded  with  subjects  in  sec- 
tions to  be  "  got  up  "  for  purposes  of  examination,  and 
compared  it  with  one  into  which  the  practical  has 
largely  entered,  they  can  hardly  fail  to  agree  that  the 
latter  is  the  best  preparation  for  life,  not  only  physi- 
cally and  morally  but  mentally.  During  the  stress 
of  examinations  lined  foreheads,  tired  eyes,  shallow 
breathing,  angular  movements  tell  their  own  story  of 
strain,  and  when  it  is  over  a  want  of  resourcefulness 
in  finding  occupation  shows  that  a  whole  side  has  re- 
mained undeveloped.  The  possibility  of  turning  to 
some  household  employments  would  give  rest  with- 
out idleness ;  it  would  save  from  two  excesses  in  a  time 
of  reaction,  from  the  exceeding  weariness  of  having 
nothing  to  do,  the  real  misery  of  an  idle  life,  and  on 
the  other  hand  from  craving  for  excitement  and 
constant  change  through  fear  of  this  unoccupied 
vacancy. 

One  other  point  is  worth  consideration.  The 
"  servant  question  "  is  one  which  looms  larger  and 
larger  as  a  household  difficulty.  There  are  stories 
of  great  and  even  royal  households  being  left  in 
critical  moments  at  the  mercy  of  servants'  tempers, 
of  head  cooks  "  on  strike  "  or  negligent  personal  at- 
tendants. And  from  these  down  to  the  humblest  em- 
ployers of  a  general  servant  the  complaint  is  the  same 
— servants  so  independent,  so  exacting,  good  servants 
not  to  be  had,  so  difficult  to  get  things  properly  done, 
etc.     These  complaints  give  very  strong  warning  that 


92  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIKLS 

helpless  dependence  on  servants  is  too  great  a  risk  to 
be  accepted,  and  that  every  one  in  ordinary  stations 
of  life  should  be  at  least  able  to  be  independent  of 
personal  service.  The  expansion  of  colonial  life  points 
in  the  same  direction.  "  The  simple  life  "  is  talked 
of  at  home,  but  it  is  really  lived  in  the  colonies. 
Those  w^ho  brace  themselves  to  its  hardness  find  a 
vigour  and  resourcefulness  w^ithin  them  v^^hich  they 
had  never  suspected,  and  the  pride  of  personal  achieve- 
ment in  making  a  home  brings  out  possibilities  which 
in  softer  circumstances  might  have  remained  for  ever 
dormant,  with  their  treasure  of  happiness  and  hardy 
virtues.  It  is  possible,  no  doubt,  in  that  severe  and 
plain  life  to  lose  many  things  which  are  not  replaced 
by  its  self-reliance  and  hardihood.  It  is  possible  to 
drop  into  merely  material  preoccupation  in  the 
struggle  for  existence;  But  it  is  also  possible  not  to 
do  so,  and  the  difference  lies  in  having  an  ideal. 

To  Catholics  even  work  in  the  wilderness  and  life 
in  the  backwoods  are  not  dissociated  from  the  most 
spiritual  ideals.  The  pioneers  of  the  Church,  St. 
Benedict's  monks,  have  gone  before  in  the  very  same 
labour  of  civilization  when  Europe  was  to  a  great  ex- 
tent still  in  backwoods.  And,  when  they  sanctified 
their  days  in  prayer  and  hard  labour,  poetry  did  not 
forsake  them,  and  learning  even  took  refuge  with  them 
in  their  solitude  to  wait  for  better  times.  It  was  re- 
ligion which  attracted  both.  Without  their  daily 
service  of  prayer,  the  Opus  Dei,  and  the  assiduous 
copying  of  books,  and  the  desire  to  build  worthy 
churches  for  the  worship  of  God,  arts  and  learning 
would  not  have  followed  the  monks  into  the  wilder- 


THE  REALITIES  OF  LIFE  93 

ness,  but  their  life  would  have  dropped  to  the  dead 
level  of  the  squatter's  existence.  In  the  same  way 
family  life,  if  toilsome,  either  at  home  or  in  a  new 
country,  may  be  inspired  by  the  example  of  the  Holy 
Family  in  Nazareth ;  and  in  lonely  and  hard  condi- 
tions, as  well  as  in  the  stress  of  our  crowded  ways  of 
living,  the  influence  of  that  ideal  reaches  down  to 
the  foundations  and  transfigures  the  very  humblest 
service  of  the  household. 

These  primitive  services  which  are  at  the  foundation 
of  all  home  life  are  in  themselves  the  same  in  all  places 
and  times.  There  is  in  them  something  almost  sacred ; 
they  are  sane,  wholesome,  stable,  amid  the  weary  per- 
petual change  of  artificial  additions  which  add  much  to 
the  cares  but  little  to  the  joys  of  life.  There  is  a  long 
distance  between  the  labours  of  Benedictine  monks 
and  the  domestic  work  possible  for  school  girls,  but  the 
principles  fundamental  to  both  are  the  same — happi- 
ness in  willing  work,  honour  to  manual  labour,  service 
of  God  in  humble  offices.  The  work  of  lay-sisters 
in  some  religious  houses,  where  they  understand  the 
happiness  of  their  lot,  links  the  two  extremes  together 
across  the  centuries.  The  jubilant  onset  of  their  com- 
pany in  some  laborious  work  is  like  an  anthem  rising 
to  God  bearing  witness  to  the  happiness  of  labom- 
where  it  is  part  of  His  service.  They  are  the  envy  of 
the  choir  religious,  and  in  the  precincts  of  such  relig- 
ious houses  children  unconsciously  learn  the  dignity 
of  manual  labour,  and  feel  themselves  honoured  by 
having  any  share  in  it.  Such  labour  can  be  had  for 
love,  but  not  for  money. 

One  word  must  be  added  before  leaving  the  subject 


94  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

of  the  realities  of  life.  From  time  to  time  a  rather 
emphatic  school  lifts  up  its  voice  in  the  name  of  plain 
speaking  and  asks  for  something  beyond  reality — for 
realism,  for  anticipated  instruction  on  the  duties  and 
especially  on  the  dangers  of  grown-up  Hfe.  It  will 
be  sufficient  to  suggest  three  points  for  consideration 
in  this  matter :  (1)  That  these  demands  are  not  made 
by  fathers  and  mothers,  but  appear  to  come  from 
those  whose  interest  in  children  is  indirect  and  not 
immediately  or  personally  responsible.  This  may  be 
supposed  from  the  fact  that  they  find  fault  with  what 
is  omitted,  but  do  not  give  their  personal  experience 
of  how  the  want  may  be  supplied.  (2)  Those  priests 
who  have  made  a  special  study  of  children  do  not 
seem  to  favour  the  view,  or  to  urge  that  any  change 
should  be  made  in  the  direction  of  plain  speaking. 
(3)  The  answer  given  by  a  great  educational  authority, 
Miss  Dorothea  Beale,  the  late  Principal  of  Cheltenham 
College,  may  appeal  to  those  who  are  struck  by  the 
theory  if  they  do  not  advocate  it  in  practice.  When 
this  difficulty  was  laid  before  her  she  was  not  in 
favour  of  departing  from  the  usual  course,  or  insist- 
ing on  the  knowledge  of  grown-up  life  before  its  time, 
and  she  pointed  out  that  in  case  of  accidents  or 
surgical  operations  it  was  not  the  doctors  nor  the 
nurses  actively  engaged  who  turned  faint  and  sick, 
but  those  who  had  nothing  to  do,  and  in  the  same 
way  she  thought  that  such  instruction,  cut  off  from 
the  duties  and  needs  of  the  present,  was  not  likely  to 
be  of  any  real  benefit,  but  rather  to  be  harmful.  Con- 
sidering how  wide  was  her  experience  of  educational 
work  this  opinion  carries  great  weight. 


CHAPTEE  VL 

LESSONS  AND  PLAY. 
*'  What  think  we  of  thy  soul  ? 

Bom  of  full  stature,  lineal  to  control ; 

And  yet  a  pigmy's  yoke  must  undergo. 
Yet  must  keep  pace  and  tarry,  patient,  kind, 
With  its  unwilling  scholar,  the  dull,  tardy  mind  ; 
Must  be  obsequious  to  the  body's  powers, 
Whose  low  hands  mete  its  paths,  set  ope  and  close  its  ways ; 

Must  do  obeisance  to  the  days, 
And  wait  the  little  pleasure  of  the  hours ; 

Yea,  ripe  for  kingship,  yet  must  be 
Captive  in  statuted  minority  !  " 

"  Sister  Songs,"  by  Fkanois  Thompson. 

Lessons  and  play  used  to  be  as  clearly  marked  off 
one  from  the  other  as  land  and  water  on  the  older 
maps.  Now  we  see  some  contour  maps  in  which  the 
land  below  so  many  feet  and  the  sea  within  so  many 
fathoms'  depth  are  represented  by  the  same  marking, 
or  left  blank.  In  the  same  way  the  tendency  in 
education  at  present  is  almost  to  obliterate  the  hne 
of  demarcation,  at  least  for  younger  children,  so  that 
lessons  become  a  particular  form  of  play,  "  with  a 
purpose,"  and  play  becomes  a  sublimated  form  of 
lessons,  as  the  druggists  used  to  say,  "  an  elegant 
preparation  "  of  something  bitter.     If  the  Board  of 

95 


96  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

Education  were  to  name  a  commission  composed  of 
children,  and  require  it  to  look  into  the  system,  it  is 
doubtful  whether  they  would  give  a  completely  satis- 
factory report.  They  would  probably  judge  it  to  be 
too  uniform  in  tone,  poor  in  colour  and  contrast, 
deficient  in  sparkle.  They  like  the  exhilaration  of 
bright  colour,  and  the  crispness  of  contrast.  Of 
course  they  would  judge  it  from  the  standpoint  of 
play,  not  of  lessons.  But  play  which  is  not  quite 
play,  coming  after  something  which  has  been  not 
quite  lessons,  loses  the  tingling  dehght  of  contrast. 
The  funereal  tolling  of  a  bell  for  real  lessons  made  a 
dark  background  against  which  the  rapture  of  release 
for  real  play  shone  out  with  a  brilliancy  which  more 
than  made  up  for  it.  At  home,  the  system  of  ten 
minutes'  lessons  at  short  intervals  seems  to  answer 
well  for  young  children ;  it  exerts  just  enough  pressure 
to  give  rebound  in  the  intervals  of  play.  Of  course  this 
is  not  possible  at  school. 

But  the  illusion  that  lessons  are  play  cannot  be 
indefinitely  kept  up,  or  if  the  illusion  remains  it  is 
fraught  with  trouble.  Duty  and  endui.*ncp  the 
power  to  go  through  drudgery,  the  strength  of  mind 
to  persist  in  taking  trouble,  even  where  no  interest  is 
felt,  the  satisfaction  of  holding  on  to  the  end  in  doing 
something  arduous,  these  things  must  be  learned  at 
some  time  during  the  years  of  education.  If  they 
are  not  learned  then,  in  all  probability  they  will  never 
be  acquired  at  all ;  examples  to  prove  the  contrary 
are  rare.  The  question  is  how — and  when.  If 
pressed  too  soon  with  obligations  of  lessons,  especially 
with   prolonged   attention,  httle   anxious   faces  and 


LESSONS  AND  PLAY  97 

round  shoulders  protest.  If  too  long  delayed  the 
discovery  comes  as  a  shock,  and  the  less  energetic 
fall  out  at  once  and  declare  that  they  "  can't  learn  " 
— "  never  could." 

Perhaps  in  one  way  the  elementary  schools  with 
their  large  classes  have  a  certain  advantage  in  this, 
because  the  pressure  is  more  self-adjusting  than  in 
higher  class  education,  where  the  smaller  numbers 
give  to  each  child  a  greater  share  in  the  general  work, 
for  better  or  for  worse.  In  home  education  this  share 
becomes  even  greater  when  sometimes  one  child  alone 
enjoys  or  endures  the  undivided  attention  of  the 
governess.  In  that  case  the  pressure  does  not  relax. 
But  out  of  large  classes  of  infants  in  elementary 
schools  it  is  easy  to  see  on  many  vacant  restful  faces 
that  after  a  short  exertion  in  "qualifying  to  their 
teacher  "  they  are  taking  their  well-earned  rest.  They 
do  not  allow  themselves  to  be  strung  up  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  attention  all  through  the  lesson,  but  take  and 
leave  as  they  will  or  as  they  can,  and  so  they  are 
carried  through  a  fairly  long  period  of  lessons  with- 
out distress.  As  they  grow  older  and  more  inde- 
pendent in  their  work  the  same  cause  operates  in  a 
different  way.  They  can  go  on  by  themselves  and  to 
a  certain  extent  they  must  do  so,  as  o  n  account  of  the 
numbers  teachers  can  give  less  time  and  less  individual 
help  to  each,  and  the  habit  of  self-rehance  is  gradually 
acquired,  with  a  certain  amount  of  drudgery,  leading 
to  results  proportionate  to  the  teacher's  personal 
power  of  stimulating  work.  The  old  race  of  Scottish 
schoolmaster  in  the  rural  schools  produced — per- 
haps still  produces — good  types  of  such  self-reliant 

7 


98  THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

scholars,  urged  on  by  his  personal  enthusiasm  for 
knowledge.  Having  no  assistant,  his  own  person- 
ahty  was  the  soul  of  the  school,  both  boys  and  girls 
responding  in  a  spirit  which  was  worthy  of  it.  But 
the  boys  had  the  best  of  it ;  "  lassies  "  were  not  deemed 
worthy  to  touch  the  classics,  and  the  classics  were 
everything  to  him.  In  x\merica  it  is  reported  that  the 
best  specimens  of  university  students  often  come  from 
remote  schools  in  which  no  external  advantages  have 
been  available ;  but  the  tough  unyielding  habit  of  study 
has  been  developed  in  grappling  with  difficulties  with- 
out much  support  from  a  teacher. 

With  those  who  are  more  gently  brought  up  the 
problem  is  how  to  obtain  this  habit  of  independent 
work,  that  is  practically — how  to  get  the  will  to  act. 
There  is  drudgery  to  be  gone  through,  however  it  may 
be  disguised,  and  as  a  permanent  acquisition  the  power 
of  going  through  it  is  one  of  the  most  lasting  educa- 
tional results  that  can  be  looked  for.  Drudgery  is 
labour  with  toil  and  fatigue.  It  is  the  long  penitential 
exercise  of  the  whole  human  race,  not  limited  to  one 
class  or  occupation,  but  accompanying  every  work  of 
man  from  the  lowest  mechanical  factory  hand  or  do- 
mestic "  drudge  "  up  to  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  who  has 
to  spend  so  many  hours  in  merely  receiving,  encourag- 
ing, blessing,  and  dismissing  the  unending  processions 
of  his  people  as  they  pass  before  him,  imparting  to 
them  graces  of  which  he  can  never  see  the  fruit,  and 
then  returning  to  longer  hours  of  listening  to  com- 
plaints and  hearing  of  troubles  which  often  adm  it  of 
no  remedy.  Truly  a  life  of  labour  with  toil  and  f ati  gue, 
in  comparison  with  which  most  liveg  are  easy,  though 


LESSONS  AND  PLAT  99 

each  has  to  bear  in  its  measure  the  same  stamp. 
Pius  X  has  borne  the  yoke  of  labour  from  his  youth. 
His  predecessor  took  it  up  with  an  enthusiasm  that 
burned  within  him,  and  accepted  training  in  a  service 
where  the  drudgery  is  as  severe  though  generally  kept 
out  of  sight.  The  acceptance  of  it  is  the  great  matter, 
whatever  may  be  the  form  it  takes. 

Spurs  and  bait,  punishment  and  reward,  have  been 
used  from  time  immemorial  to  set  the  will  in  motion, 
and  the  results  have  been  variable — no  one  has  ap- 
peared to  be  thoroughly  satisfied  with  either,  or  even 
with  a  combination  of  the  two.  Some  authorities  have 
stood  on  an  eminence,  and  said  that  neither  punish- 
ment nor  reward  should  be  used,  that  knowledge  should 
be  loved  for  its  own  sake.  But  if  it  was  not  loved, 
after  many  invitations,  the  problem  remained.  As 
usual  the  real  solution  seems  to  be  attainable  only  by 
one  who  really  loves  both  knowledge  and  children,  or 
one  who  loves  knowledge  and  can  love  children,  as 
"Vittorino  da  Feltre  loved  them  both,  and  also  Blessed 
Thomas  More,  These  two  affections  mingled  to- 
gether produce  great  educators — great  in  the  propor- 
tion in  which  the  two  are  possessed — as  either  one  or 
the  other  declines  the  educational  power  diminishes, 
till  it  dwindles  down  to  offer  trained  substitutes  and 
presentable  mediocrities  for  living  teachers.  The 
fundamental  principle  reasserts  itself,  that  "  love 
feels  no  labour,  or  if  it  does  it  loves  the  labour  ". 

Here  is  one  of  our  Catholic  secrets  of  strength. 
We  have  received  so  much,  we  have  so  much  to  give, 
we  know  so  well  what  we  want  to  obtain.  We  have 
the  Church,  the  great  teacher  of  the  world,  as  our 

7* 


100        THE  EDUCATION  OP  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

prototype,  and  by  some  instinct  a  certain  unconscious 
imitation  of  her  finds  its  way  into  the  mind  and  heart 
of  Catholic  teachers,  so  that  though  often  out  of  poorer 
material,  we  can  produce  teachers  who  excel  in  per- 
sonal hold  over  children  and  influence  for  good,  by 
their  great  affection  and  the  value  which  they  set  on 
souls.  Their  power  of  obtaining  work  is  proportioned 
to  their  own  love  of  knowledge,  and  here — let  it  be 
owned — we  more  often  fail.  Various  theories  are 
offered  in  explanation  of  this ;  people  take  one  or  other 
according  to  their  personal  point  of  view.  Some  say 
we  feel  so  sure  of  the  other  world  that  our  hold  on 
this  is  slack.  Some  that  in  these  countries  we  have 
not  yet  made  up  for  the  check  of  three  centuries  when 
education  was  made  almost  impossible  for  us.  And 
others  say  it  is  not  true  at  all.  Perhaps  they  know 
best. 

Next  to  the  personal  power  of  the  teacher  to  in- 
fluence children  in  learning  lessons  comes  an  essential 
condition  to  make  it  possible,  and  that  is  a  simple 
life  with  quiet  regular  hours  and  unexciting  pleasures. 
Amid  a  round  of  amusements  lessons  must  go  to  the 
wall,  no  child  can  stand  the  demands  of  both  at  a 
time.  All  that  can  be  asked  of  them  is  that  they 
should  Uve  through  the  excitement  without  too  much 
weariness  or  serious  damage.  The  place  to  consider 
this  is  in  London  at  the  children's  hour  for  riding  in 
the  park,  contrasting  the  prime  condition  of  the 
ponies  with  the  "illustrious  pallor"  of  so  many  of 
their  riders.  They  have  courage  enough  left  to  sit 
up  straight  in  their  saddles,  but  it  would  take  a  heart 
of  stone  to  think  of  lesson  books.     This  extreme  of 


LESSONS  AND  PLAY  101 

artificial  life  is  of  course  the  portion  of  the  few.  Those 
few,  however,  are  very  important  people,  influential  in 
the  future  for  good  or  evil,  but  a  protest  from  a  dis- 
tance would  not  reach  their  schoolrooms,  any  more 
than  legislation  for  the  protection  of  children ;  they 
may  be  protected  from  work,  but  not  from  amusement. 
The  conditions  of  simple  hving  which  are  favourable 
for  children  have  been  so  often  enumerated  that  it  is 
unnecessary  to  go  over  them  again ;  they  may  even 
be  procured  in  tabular  form  or  graphical  representa- 
tion for  those  to  whom  these  figures  and  curves  carry 
conviction. 

But  a  point  that  is  of  more  practical  interest  to 
children  and  teachers,  struggling  together  in  the 
business  of  education,  and  one  that  is  often  over- 
looked, is  that  children  do  not  know  how  to  learn 
lessons  when  the  books  are  before  them,  and  that 
there  is  a  great  waste  of  good  power,  and  a  great 
deal  of  unnecessary  weariness  from  this  cause.  If 
the  cause  of  imperfectly  learned  lessons  is  examined 
it  will  usually  be  found  there,  and  also  the  cause  of 
so  much  dislike  to  the  work  of  preparation.  Children 
do  not  know  by  instinct  how  to  set  about  learning 
a  lesson  from  a  book,  nor  do  they  spontaneously  re- 
cognize that  there  are  different  ways  of  learning, 
adapted  to  different  lessons.  It  is  a  help  to  them 
to  know  that  there  is  one  way  for  the  multiplication 
table  and  another  for  history  and  another  for  poetry, 
as  the  end  of  the  lesson  is  different.  They  can  un- 
derstand this  if  it  is  put  before  them  that  one  is 
learnt  most  quickly  by  mere  repetition,  until  it  be- 
comes a  sing-song  in  the  memory  that  cannot   go 


102        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

wrong,  and  that  afterwards  in  practice  it  will  allow 
itself  to  be  taken  to  pieces  ;  they  will  see  that  they 
can  grasp  a  chapter  of  history  more  intelligently  if 
they  prepare  for  themselves  questions  upon  it  which 
might  be  asked  of  another,  than  in  trying  by  me- 
chanical devices  of  memory  to  associate  facts  with 
something  to  hold  them  by ;  that  poetry  is  different 
from  both,  having  a  body  and  a  soul,  each  of  which 
has  to  be  taken  account  of  in  learning  it,  one  of  them 
being  the  song  and  the  other  the  singer.  Obviously 
there  is  not  one  only  way  for  each  of  these  or  for 
other  matters  which  have  to  be  learnt,  but  one  of 
the  greatest  difficulties  is  removed  when  it  is  under- 
stood that  there  is  something  intelligible  to  be  done 
in  the  learning  of  lessons  beyond  reading  them  over 
and  over  with  the  hope  that  they  will  go  in. 

The  hearing  of  lessons  is  a  subject  that  deserves  a 
great  deal  of  consideration.  It  is  an  old  formal  name 
for  what  has  been  often  an  antiquated  mechanical  ex- 
ercise. A  great  deal  more  trouble  is  expended  now 
on  the  manner  of  questioning  and  "  hearing  "  the 
lessons ;  but  even  yet  it  may  be  done  too  formally,  as 
a  mere  function,  or  in  a  way  that  kills  the  interest, 
or  in  a  manner  that  alarms — with  a  mysterious  face 
as  if  setting  traps,  or  with  questions  that  are  easy 
and  obvious  to  ask,  but  for  children  almost  impos- 
sible to  answer.  Children  do  not  usually  give  direct 
answers  to  simple  questions.  Experience  seems  to 
have  taught  them  that  appearances  are  deceptive  in 
this  matter,  and  they  look  about  for  the  spring  by 
which  the  trap  works  before  they  will  touch  the  bait. 
It  is  a  pity  to  set  traps,  becaise  it  destroys  confidence, 


LESSONS  AND  PLAT  108 

and  children's  confidence  in  such  matters  as  lessons 
is  hard  to  win. 

The  question  of  aids  to  study  by  stimulants  is  a 
difficult  one.  On  the  one  hand  it  seems  to  some 
educators  a  fundamental  law  that  reward  should 
follow  right-doing  and  effort,  and  so  no  doubt  it  is ; 
but  the  reward  within  one's  own  mind  and  soul  is 
one  thing  and  the  calf-bound  book  is  another — 
scarcely  even  a  symbol  of  the  first,  because  they  are 
not  always  obtained  by  the  same  students.  This  is 
a  fruitful  subject  for  discourse  or  reflection  at  dis- 
tributions of  prizes.  Those  who  are  behind  the 
scenes  know  that  the  race  is  not  to  the  swift  nor  the 
battle  to  the  strong,  and  the  children  know  it  them- 
selves, and  prize-winners  often  become  the  object  of 
the  "  word  in  season,"  pointing  out  how  rarely  they 
vdll  be  found  to  distinguish  themselves  in  after  life ; 
while  the  steady  advance  of  the  plodding  and  slow 
mind  is  dwelt  upon,  and  those  who  have  failed 
through  idleness  drink  up  the  encouragement  which 
was  not  intended  for  them,  and  feel  that  they  are  the 
hope  of  the  future  because  they  have  won  no  prizes. 
It  is  difficult  on  those  occasions  to  make  the  conflict- 
ing conclusions  clear  to  everybody. 

Yet  the  system  of  prize  distributions  is  time  hon- 
oured and  traditional,  and  every  country  is  not  yet 
BO  disinterested  in  study  as  to  be  able  to  do  without 
it;  under  its  sway  a  great  deal  of  honest  effort  is 
pat  out,  and  the  taste  of  success  which  is  the  great 
•timulant  of  youth  is  first  experienced. 

There  is  also  the  system  of  certificates,  which  has 
thtt  advantage  of  being  open  to  many  instead  of  to 


104        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

one.  It  is  likewise  a  less  material  testimonial,  ap- 
proaching more  nearly  to  the  merited  word  of 
approval  which  is  in  itself  the  highest  human  reward, 
and  the  one  nearest  to  the  heart  of  things,  because  it 
is  the  one  which  belongs  to  home.  For  if  the  home 
authorities  interest  themselves  in  lessons  at  all,  their 
grown-up  standard  and  the  paramount  weight  of 
their  opinion  gives  to  one  word  of  their  praise  a 
dignity  and  worth  which  goes  beyond  all  prizes. 
Beyond  this  there  is  no  natural  satisfaction  to  equal 
the  inner  consciousness  of  having  done  one's  best, 
a  very  intimate  prize  distribution  in  which  we  our- 
selves make  the  discourse,  and  deliver  the  certificate 
to  ourselves.  This  is  the  culminating  point  at  which 
educators  aim ;  they  are  all  agreed  that  prizes  in  the 
end  are  meant  to  lead  up  to  it,  but  the  way  is  long 
between  them.  And  both  one  and  the  other  are  good 
in  so  far  as  they  lead  us  on  to  the  highest  judgment 
that  is  day  by  day  passed  on  our  work.  When  prizes, 
and  even  the  honour  of  well-deserved  praise,  fail  to 
attract,  the  thought  of  God  the  witness  of  our  efforts, 
and  of  the  value  in  His  sight  of  striving  which  is 
never  destined  to  meet  with  success,  is  a  support  that 
keeps  up  endurance,  and  seals  with  an  evident  mark 
of  privilege  the  lives  of  many  who  have  made  those 
dutiful  efforts  not  for  themselves  but  in  the  sight  of 
God. 

The  subject  of  play  has  to  be  considered  from  two 
points  of  view,  that  of  the  children  and  ours.  Theirs 
is  concerned  chiefly  with  the  present  and  ours  with 
the  future,  for  although  we  do  not  want  every  play- 
hour  to  be  haunted  with  a   spectral  presence  that 


LESSONS  ANB  PLAY  106 

speaks  of  improvement  and  advancement,  yet  we 
cannot  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  every  hour  of  play 
is  telling  on  the  future,  deepening  the  mark  of  the 
character,  strengthening  the  habits,  and  guiding  the 
lines  of  after  life  into  this  or  that  channel. 

Looking  at  it  from  this  point  of  view  of  the  future, 
there  seems  to  be  something  radically  wrong  at 
present  with  the  play  provided  for  children  of  nursery 
age.  In  a  very  few  years  we  shall  surely  look  back 
and  wonder  how  we  could  have  endured,  for  the 
children,  the  perverse  reign  of  the  GolHwog  dynasty 
and  the  despotism  of  Teddy-bears.  More  than  that, 
it  is  pitiful  to  hear  of  nurseries  for  Catholic  children 
sometimes  without  shrine  or  altar  or  picture  of  the 
Mother  of  God,  and  with  one  of  these  monsters  on 
every  chair.  Something  even  deeper  than  the  artistic 
sense  must  revolt  before  long  against  this  barbarous 
rule.  The  Teddy-bear,  if  he  has  anything  to  impart, 
suggests  his  own  methods  of  life  and  defence,  and  the 
Golliwog,  far  worse — limp,  hideous,  without  one  char- 
acteristic grace,  or  spark  of  humour — suggests  the 
last  extremity  of  what  is  embodied  in  the  expression 
"  letting  oneself  go  ".  And  these  things  are  loved  ! 
Pity  the  beautiful  soul  of  the  child,  made  for  beautiful 
things.  II  y  a  toujours  en  nous  quelque  chose  qui 
veut  ramper,  said  Pere  de  Eavignan,  and  to  this  the 
Golliwog  makes  strong  appeal.  It  is  only  too  easy  to 
let  go,  and  the  Golliwog  playfellow  says  that  it  is 
quite  right  to  do  so — he  does  it  himself.  It  takes  a 
great  deal  to  make  him  able  to  sit  up  at  all — only  in  the 
most  comfortable  chair  can  it  be  accomplished — if 
the  least  obstacle  is  encountered  he  can  only  give 


106        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GlRLS 

way.  And  yet  this  pitiable  being  makes  no  appeal 
to  the  spirit  of  helpfulness.  Do  what  you  can  for 
him  it  is  impossible  to  raise  him  up,  the  only  thing 
is  to  go  down  with  him  to  his  own  level  and  stay 
there.     The  Golliwog  is  at  heart  a  pessimist. 

In  contrast  with  this  the  presence  of  an  altar  or 
nursery  shrine,  though  not  a  plaything,  gives  a  dif- 
ferent tone  to  play — a  tone  of  joy  and  heavenlinesa 
that  go  down  into  the  soul  and  take  root  there  to 
grow  into  something  lasting  and  beautiful.  There 
are  flowers  to  be  brought,  and  lights,  and  small  pro- 
cessions, and  evening  recollection  with  quietness  of 
devotion,  with  security  in  the  sense  of  heavenly  pro- 
tection, with  the  realization  of  the  "  great  cloud  of 
witnesses  "  who  are  around  to  make  play  safe  and 
holy,  and  there  is  through  it  all  the  gracious  call  to 
things  higher,  to  be  strong,  to  be  unselfish,  to  be  self- 
controlled,  to  be  worthy  of  these  protectors  and 
friends  in  heaven. 

There  is  another  side  also  to  the  question  of  nursery 
play,  and  that  is  what  may  be  called  the  play-values 
of  the  things  provided.  Mechanical  toys  are  wonder- 
ful, but  beyond  an  artificial  interest  which  comes 
mostly  from  the  elders,  there  is  very  little  lasting 
delight  in  them  for  children.  They  belong  to  the 
system  of  over-indulgence  and  over-stimulation  which 
measures  the  value  of  things  by  their  price.  Their 
worst  fault  is  that  they  do  all  there  is  to  be  done, 
while  the  child  looks  on  and  has  nothing  to  do.  The 
train  or  motor  rushes  round  and  round,  the  doll  struts 
about  and  bleats  "papa,"  " mama,"  the  Teddy-bear 
growls   and  dances,  and  the  owner  has  but  to  wind 


LESSONS  AND  PLAY  107 

them  up,  which  is  very  poor  amusement.  Probably 
they  are  better  after  they  have  been  over-wound  and 
the  mechanical  part  has  given  way,  and  they  have 
come  to  the  hard  use  that  belongs  to  their  proper  posi- 
tion as  playthings.  If  a  distinction  may  be  drawn 
between  toys  and  playthings,  toys  are  of  very  little 
play-value,  they  stand  for  fancy  play,  to  be  fiddled 
with ;  while  playthings  stand  as  symbols  of  real  life, 
the  harder  and  more  primitive  side  of  life  taking  the 
highest  rank,  and  all  that  they  do  is  really  done  by 
the  child.  This  is  the  real  play- value.  Even  things 
that  are  not  playthings  at  all,  sticks  and  stones  and 
shells,  have  this  possibility  in  them.  Things  which 
have  been  found  have  a  history  of  their  own,  which 
gives  them  precedence  over  what  comes  from  a  shop ; 
but  the  highest  value  of  all  belongs  to  the  things 
which  children  have  made  entirely  themselves — bows 
and  arrows,  catapults,  clay  marbles,  though  imper- 
fectly round,  home-made  boats  and  kites.  The  play- 
value  grows  in  direct  proportion  to  the  amount  of 
personal  share  which  children  have  in  the  making 
and  in  the  use  of  their  playthings.  And  in  this  we 
ought  cordially  to  agree  with  them. 

After  the  nursery  age,  in  the  school  or  school-room, 
play  divides  into  two  Imes — organized  games,  of 
which  we  hear  a  great  deal  in  school  at  present,  and 
home  play.  They  are  not  at  all  the  same  thing. 
Both  have  something  in  their  favour.  So  much  has 
been  written  of  late  about  the  value  of  organized 
games,  how  they  bring  out  unselfishness,  prompt  and 
unquestioning  obedience,  playing  for  one's  side  and 
not  for  oneself,  etc.,  that  it  seems  as  if  all  has   been 


108        THE  EDUCATION  OP  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

said  better  than  it  could  be  said  again,  except  perhaps 
to  point  out  that  there  is  Httle  relaxation  in  the 
battle  of  life  for  children  who  do  their  best  at  books 
indoors  and  at  games  out  of  doors — so  that  in  self- 
defence  a  good  many  choose  an  "elective  course" 
between  the  two  lines  of  advantages  that  school 
offers,  and  do  not  attempt  to  serve  two  masters ;  they 
will  do  well  at  books  or  games  but  not  both.  If  the 
interest  in  games  is  keen,  they  require  a  great  deal 
of  will-energy,  as  well  as  physical  activity,  a  great 
deal  of  self-control  and  subordination  of  personal  in- 
terest to  the  good  of  the  whole.  In  return  for  these 
requirements  they  give  a  great  deal,  this  or  that,  more 
or  less,  according  to  the  character  of  the  game ;  they 
give  physical  control  of  movement,  quickness  of  eye 
and  hand,  promptitude  in  decision,  observance  of 
right  moments,  command  of  temper,  and  many  other 
things.  In  fact,  for  some  games  the  only  adverse 
criticism  to  offer  is  that  they  are  more  of  a  discipline 
than  real  play,  and  that  certainly  for  younger  children 
who  have  no  other  form  of  recreation  than  play, 
something  more  restful  to  the  mind  and  less  definite 
in  purpose  is  desirable. 

For  these  during  playtime  some  semblance  of 
solitude  is  exceedingly  desirable  at  school  where  the 
great  want  is  to  be  sometimes  alone.  It  is  good  for 
them  not  to  be  always  under  the  pressure  of  competi- 
tion— going  along  a  made  road  to  a  definite  end — but 
to  have  their  little  moments  of  even  comparative  soli- 
tude, little  times  of  silence  and  complete  freedom,  if 
they  cannot  be  by  themselves.  Hoops  and  skipping- 
ropes  without  races  or  counted  competitions  will  give 


LESSONS  AND  PLAY  109 

this,  with  the  possibihty  of  a  moment  or  two  to  do 
nothing  but  Hve  and  breathe  and  rejoice  in  air  and 
sunshine.  Without  these  moments  of  rest  the  condi- 
tions of  Hfe  at  present  and  the  constitutions  for  which 
the  new  word  ' '  nervy  "  has  had  to  be  invented,  will  give 
us  tempers  and  temperaments  incapable  of  repose  and 
solitude.  A  child  alone  in  a  swing,  kicking  itself 
backwards  and  forwards,  is  at  rest ;  alone  in  its  little 
garden  it  has  complete  rest  of  mind  with  the  joy  of 
seeing  its  own  plants  grow ;  alone  in  a  field  picking 
wild  flowers  it  is  as  near  to  the  heart  of  primitive 
existence  as  it  is  possible  to  be.  Although  these  joys 
of  solitude  are  only  attainable  in  their  perfection  by 
children  at  home,  yet  if  their  value  is  understood, 
those  who  have  charge  of  them  at  school  can  do 
something  to  give  them  breathing  spaces  free  from 
the  pressure  of  corporate  life,  and  will  probably  find 
them  much  calmer  and  more  manageable  than  if 
they  have  nothing  but  organized  play. 

There  are  plenty  of  indoor  occupations  too  for  little 
girls  which  may  give  the  same  taste  of  solitude  and 
silence,  approaching  to  those  simpler  forms  of  home 
play  which  have  no  definite  aim,  no  beginning  and 
ending,  no  rules.  The  fighting  instinct  is  very  near 
the  surface  in  ambitious  and  energetic  children,  and 
in  the  play-grounds  it  asserts  itself  all  the  more  in 
reaction  after  indoor  discipline,  then  excitement  grows, 
and  the  weaker  suffer,  and  the  stronger  are  exasperated 
by  friction.  If  unselfish,  they  feel  the  effort  to  control 
themselves ;  if  selfish,  they  exhaust  themselves  and 
others  in  the  battle  to  impose  their  own  will.  In 
these  moods  solitude  and  silence,  with  a  hoop  or 


no         THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

skipping-rope,  are  a  saving  system,  and  restore  calm- 
ness of  mind.  All  that  is  wanted  is  freedom,  fresh 
air,  and  spontaneous  movement.  This  is  more  evident 
in  the  case  of  younger  children,  but  if  it  can  be  ob- 
tained for  elder  girls  it  is  just  as  great  a  relief. 
They  have  usually  acquired  more  self-control,  and 
the  need  does  not  assert  itself  so  loudly,  but  it  is  per- 
haps all  the  greater ;  and  in  whatever  way  it  can  best 
be  ministered  to,  it  will  repay  attention  and  the  pro- 
vision that  may  be  made  for  it. 

One  word  may  be  merely  suggested  for  considera- 
tion concerning  games  in  girls'  schools,  and  that  is 
the  comparative  value  of  them  as  to  physical  develop- 
ment. The  influence  of  the  game  in  vogue  in  each 
country  will  always  be  felt,  but  it  is  worth  attention 
that  some  games,  as  hockey,  conduce  to  all  the  atti- 
tudes and  movements  which  are  least  to  be  desired, 
and  that  others,  as  basket-ball,  on  the  contrary  tend 
— if  played  with  strict  regard  to  rules — to  attitudes 
which  are  in  themselves  beautiful  and  tending  to 
grace  of  movement.  This  word  belongs  to  our  side 
of  the  question,  not  that  of  the  children.  It  belongs 
to  our  side  also  to  see  that  hoops  are  large,  and  driven 
with  a  stick,  not  a  hook,  for  the  sake  of  straight 
backs,  which  are  so  easily  bent  crooked  in  driving  a 
small  hoop  with  a  hook. 

In  connexion  with  movement  comes  the  question 
of  dancing.  Dancing  comes,  oflficially,  under  the 
heading  of  lessons,  most  earnest  lessons  if  the  pro- 
fessor has  profound  convictions  of  its  significance. 
But  dancing  belongs  afterwards  to  the  playtime  of 
life.     We  have  outlived  the  grim  puritanical  pre- 


LESSONS  AND  PLAT  111 

judice  which  condemned  it  as  wrong,  and  it  is  gener- 
ally agreed  that  there  is  almost  a  natural  need  for 
dancing  as  the  expression  of  something  very  deep  in 
human  nature,  which  seems  to  be  demonstrated  by 
its  appearance  in  one  form  or  another,  amongst  all 
races  of  mankind.  There  is  something  in  co-ordin- 
ated rhythmical  movement,  in  the  grace  of  steps,  in 
the  buoyancy  of  beautiful  dancing  which  seems  to 
make  it  a  very  perfect  exercise  for  children  and  young 
people.  But  there  are  dances  and  dances,  steps  and 
steps,  and  about  the  really  beautiful  there  is  always 
a  touch  of  the  severe,  and  a  hint  of  the  ideal.  With- 
out these,  dancing  drops  at  once  to  the  level  of  the 
commonplace  and  below  it.  In  general,  dances 
which  embody  some  characteristics  of  a  national  life 
have  more  beauty  than  cosmopolitan  dances,  but 
they  are  only  seen  in  their  perfection  when  per- 
formed by  dancers  of  the  race  to  whom  their  spirit 
belongs,  or  by  the  class  for  whom  they  are  intended, 
which  is  meant  as  a  suggestion  that  little  girls  should 
not  dance  the  hornpipe. 

In  conclusion,  the  question  of  play,  and  playtime 
and  recreation  is  absorbing  more  and  more  attention 
in  grown-up  life.  We  have  heard  it  said  over  and 
over  again  of  late  years  that  we  are  a  nation  at  play, 
and  that  "  the  athletic  craze  "  has  gone  beyond  all 
bounds.  Many  facts  are  brought  forward  in  support 
of  this  criticism  from  schools,  from  newspapers,  from 
general  surveys  of  our  national  life  at  present.  And 
those  who  study  more  closely  the  Catholic  body  say 
that  we  too  are  sharing  in  this  extreme,  and  that  the 
Catholic  body  though  small  in  number  is  more  respon- 


112        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

sible  and  more  deserving  of  reproof  if  it  falls  from  its 
ideals,  for  it  has  ideals.  It  is  only  Catholic  girls  who 
concern  us  here,  but  our  girls  among  other  girls,  and 
Catholic  women  among  other  women  have  the  privi- 
lege as  well  as  the  duty  of  upholding  what  is  highest. 
We  belong  by  right  to  the  graver  side  of  the  human 
race,  for  those  who  know  must  be  in  an  emergency 
graver,  less  reckless  on  the  one  hand,  less  panic- 
stricken  on  the  other,  than  those  who  do  not  know. 
We  can  never  be  entirely  "  at  play  ".  And  if  some 
of  us  should  be  for  a  time  carried  away  by  the  current, 
and  momentarily  completely  "  at  play,"  it  must  be  in 
a  wave  of  reaction  from  the  long  grinding  of  endur- 
ance under  the  penal  times.  Cardinal  Newman's  re- 
miniscences of  the  life  and  ways  of  "  the  Eoman 
Catholics  "  in  his  youth  show  the  temper  of  mind 
against  which  our  present  excess  of  play  is  a  reaction. 

"  A  few  adherents  of  the  Old  Religion,  moving  silently  and 
sorrowfully  about,  as  memorials  of  what  had  been.  'The 
Roman  Catholics ' — not  a  sect,  not  even  an  interest,  as  men 
conceived  of  it — not  a  body,  however  small,  representative  of 
the  Great  Communion  abroad,  but  a  mere  handful  of  individuals, 
who  might  be  counted,  like  the  pebbles  and  detritus  of  the  great 
deluge,  and  who,  forsooth,  merely  happened  to  retain  a  creed 
which,  in  its  day  indeed,  was  the  profession  of  a  Church.  Here 
a  set  of  poor  Irishmen,  coming  and  going  at  harvest  time,  or  a 
colony  of  them  lodged  in  a  miserable  quarter  of  the  vast  metro- 
polis. There,  perhaps,  an  elderly  person,  seen  walking  in  the 
streets,  grave  and  solitary,  and  strange,  though  noble  in  bearing, 
and  said  to  be  of  good  family,  and  '  a  Roman  Catholic '.  An 
old-fashioned  house  of  gloomy  appearance,  closed  in  with  high 
walls,  with  an  iron  gate,  and  yews,  and  the  report  attaching  to  it 
that  '  Roman  Catholics '  lived  there  ;  but  who  they  were,  or 
what  they  did,  or  what  was  meant   by  calling  them  Roman 


LESSONS  AND  PLAY  113 

Cathulics,  no  one  could  tell,  though  it  had  an  unpleasant  sound, 
and  told  of  form  and  superstition.  And  then,  perhaps,  as  we 
went  to  and  fro,  looking  with  a  boy's  curious  eyes  through  the 
great  city,  we  might  come  to-day  upon  some  Moravian  chapel, 
or  Quaker's  meeting-house,  and  to-morrow  on  a  chapel  of  the 
'  Roman  Catholics '  :  but  nothing  was  to  be  gathered  from  it, 
except  that  there  were  lights  burning  there,  and  some  boys  in 
white,  swinging  censers  :  and  what  it  all  meant  could  only  be 
learned  from  books,  from  Protestant  histories  and  sermons  ; 
but  they  did  not  report  well  of  the  '  Roman  Catholics,'  but, 
on  the  contrary,  deposed  that  they  had  once  had  power  and  had 
abused  it.  .  .  .  Such  were  the  Catholics  in  England,  found  in 
comers,  and  alleys,  and  cellars,  and  the  housetops,  or  in  the  re- 
cesses of  the  country  ;  cut  oflF  from  the  populous  world  around 
them,  and  dimly  seen,  as  if  through  a  mist  or  in  twiliglit,  as 
ghosts  flitting  to  and  fro,  by  the  high  Protestants,  the  lords  of 
the  earth."     ("  The  Second  Spring.") 

This  it  is  from  which  we  are  keeping  holiday ;  but 
for  us  it  can  be  only  a  half  holiday,  the  sifting  process 
is  always  at  work,  the  opposition  of  the  world  to  the 
Church  only  sleeps  for  a  moment,  and  there  are  many 
who  tell  us  that  the  signs  of  the  times  point  to  new 
forms  of  older  conflicts  likely  to  recur,  and  that  we 
may  have  to  go,  as  they  went  on  the  day  of  Waterloo, 
straight  from  the  dance  to  the  battlefield. 


CHAPTEB  Vn. 

MATHEMATICS,  NATURAL  SCIENCE,  AND  NATURE 
STUDY. 

"  The  Arab  told  me  that  the  stone 
(To  give  it  in  the  language  of  the  dream) 
Was  "  Euclid's  Elements  "  ;  and  "  This,"  said  he, 
"  Is  something  of  more  worth  "  ;  and  at  the  word 
Stretched  forth  the  shell,  so  beautiful  in  shape, 
In  colour  so  resplendent,  with  command 
That  I  should  hold  it  to  my  ear.     I  did  so, 
And  heard  that  instant  in  an  unknown  tongue. 
Which  yet  I  understood,  articulate  sounds, 
A  loud  prophetic  blast  of  harmony." 

WoBDSwoKXH,  "The  Prelude,"  Bk.  V. 

Mathematics,  natural  science,  and  nature  study  may 
be  conveniently  grouped  together,  because  in  a  study 
of  educational  aims,  in  so  far  as  they  concern  Catholic 
girls,  there  is  not  much  that  is  distinctive  which  practi- 
cally affects  these  branches ;  during  the  years  of  school 
life  they  stand,  more  or  less,  on  common  ground  with 
others.  More  advanced  studies  of  natural  science 
open  up  burning  questions,  and  as  to  these  it  is  the 
last  counsel  of  wisdom  for  girls  leaving  school  or 
school-room  to  remember  that  they  have  no  right  to 
have  any  opinion  at  all.  It  is  well  to  make  them 
understand  that  after  years  of  speciahzed  study  the 

lU 


MATHEMATICS  AND  NATURE  STUDY  115 

really  great  men  of  science,  in  very  gentle  tones  and 
with  careful  utterance,  give  to  the  world  their  formed 
opinions,  keeping  them  ever  open  to  readjustment 
as  the  results  of  fresh  observations  come  in  year  after 
year,  and  new  discoveries  call  for  correction  and  re- 
arrangement of  what  has  been  previously  taught.  It 
is  also  well  that  they  should  know  that  by  the  time 
the  newest  theory  reaches  the  school-room  and  text- 
book it  may  be  already  antiquated  and  perhaps  super- 
seded in  the  observatory  and  laboratory,  so  that  in 
scientific  matters  the  school-room  must  always  be  a 
little  "behind  the  times".  And  hkewise  that  when 
scientific  teaching  has  to  be  brought  within  the  com- 
pass of  a  text-book  for  young  students,  it  is  mere  baby 
talk,  as  much  like  the  original  theory  as  a  toy  engine 
is  like  an  express  locomotive.  From  which  they 
may  conclude  that  it  is  wiser  to  be  listeners  or  to 
ask  deferential  questions  than  to  have  light-hearted 
opinions  of  their  own  on  burning  questions  such  as 
we  sometimes  hear  :  "  Do  you  believe  in  evolution  ? 
— I  do."  "No,  I  don't,  I  think  there  is  very  little 
evidence  for  it."  And  that  if  they  are  introduced  to 
a  man  of  science  it  is  better  not  to  ask  his  opinion 
about  the  latest  skeleton  that  has  been  discovered,  or 
let  him  see  that  they  are  alarmed  lest  there  might  he 
something  wrong  with  our  pedigree  after  all,  or  with 
the  book  of  Genesis.  One  would  be  glad,  however, 
that  they  should  know  the  names  and  something  of 
the  works  and  reputation  of  the  Catholic  men  of 
science,  as  Ampere,  Pasteur,  and  Wassmann,  etc., 
who  have  been  or  are  European  authorities  in  special 

branches  of  study,  so  that  they  may  at  least  be  ready 

8* 


lie        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

with  an  answer  to  the  frequent  assertion  that 
"Catholics  have  done  nothing  for  science". 

But  in  connexion  with  these  three  subjects,  not  as 
to  the  teaching  of  them  but  as  to  their  place  in  the 
education  of  girls,  some  points  regarding  education  in 
general  are  worth  considering : — 

1.  Mathematics  in  the  curriculum  of  girls'  schools 
has  been  the  subject  of  much  debate.  Cool  and 
colourless  as  mathematics  are  in  themselves,  they 
have  produced  in  discussion  a  good  deal  of  heat,  being 
put  forward  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  controversy  as 
to  whether  girls  were  equal  to  boys  in  understanding 
and  capable  of  following  the  same  course  of  study,  and 
to  enter  into  competition  with  them  in  all  departments 
of  learning.  Even  taking  into  consideration  many 
brilliant  achievements  and  an  immense  amount  of 
creditable,  and  even  distinguished  work,  the  answer  of 
those  who  have  no  personal  bias  in  the  matter  for  the 
sake  of  a  Cause — is  generally  that  they  are  not.  Facts 
would  seem  to  speak  for  themselves  if  only  on  the 
ground  that  the  strain  of  equal  studies  is  too  great  for 
the  weaker  physical  organization.  Girls  are  willing 
workers,  exceedingly  intense  when  their  heart  is  set 
upon  success ;  but  their  staying  power  is  not  equal  to 
their  eagerness,  and  the  demands  made  upon  them 
sometimes  leave  a  mortgage  on  their  mental  and 
physical  estate  which  cannot  be  paid  off  in  the  course 
of  a  whole  lifetime.  In  support  of  this,  reference 
may  be  made  to  the  ^  report  of  a  commission  of  Dublin 
physicians  on  the  effects  of  the  Intermediate  Educa- 

1  Appendix  to  "  Final  Report  of  the  Commissioners  (Irish  In- 
termediate Education),"  Pt.  I,  1899. 


MATHEMATICS  AND  NATURE  STUDY  117 

tion  system  in  Ireland,  which  has  broken  down  many 
more  girls  than  boys. 

Apart  from  the  question  of  over-pressure  it  is  gener- 
ally recognized — let  it  be  said  again,  by  those  who 
have  not  a  position  to  defend  or  a  theory  to  advance 
in  the  matter — that  the  aptitude  of  girls  for  mathe- 
matical work  is  generally  less  than  that  of  boys,  and 
unless  one  has  some  particular  view  or  plan  at  stake 
in  the  matter  there  is  no  grievance  in  recognizing  this. 
There  is  more  to  be  gained  in  recognizing  diversities  of 
gifts  than  in  striving  to  establish  a  level  of  uniformity, 
and  life  is  richer,  not  poorer  for  the  setting  forth  of 
varied  types  of  excellence.  Competition  destroys  co- 
operation, and  in  striving  to  prove  ability  to  reach  an 
equal  standard  in  competition,  the  wider  and  more 
lasting  interests  which  are  at  stake  may  be  lost  sight 
of,  and  in  the  end  sacrificed  to  limited  temporary 
success. 

The  success  of  girls  in  the  field  of  mathematics  is, 
in  general,  temporary  and  limited,  it  means  much  less 
in  their  after  life  than  in  that  of  boys.  For  the  few 
whose  calling  in  life  is  teaching,  mathematics  have 
some  after  use ;  for  those,  still  fewer,  who  take  a  real 
interest  in  them,  they  keep  a  place  in  later  life ;  but 
for  the  many  into  whose  life-work  they  do  not  enter, 
beyond  the  mental  discipline  which  is  sometimes 
evaded,  very  little  remains.  The  end  of  school  means 
for  them  the  end  of  mathematical  study,  and  the 
complete  forgetfulness  in  which  the  whole  subject  is 
soon  buried  gives  the  impression  that  too  much  may 
have  been  sacrificed  to  it.  From  the  point  of  view  of 
practical  value  it  proves  of  littie  use,  and  as  men- 


118        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

tal  discipline  something  of  more  permanent  worth 
might  have  taken  its  place  to  strengthen  the  reason- 
ing powers.  The  mathematical  teacher  of  girls  has 
generally  to  seek  consolation  in  very  rare  success  for 
much  habitual  disappointment. 

The  whole  controversy  about  equality  in  education 
involves  less  bitterness  to  Catholics  than  to  others, 
for  this  reason,  that  we  have  less  di£&culty  than  those 
of  other  persuasions  in  accepting  a  fundamental  dif- 
ference of  ideals  for  girls  and  boys.  Our  ideals  of 
family  life,  of  spheres  of  action  which  co-operate  and 
complete  each  other,  without  interference  or  com- 
petition, our  mascuUne  and  feminine  types  of  holiness 
amongst  canonized  saints,  give  a  calmer  outlook  upon 
the  questions  involved  in  the  discussion.  The  Church 
puts  equality  and  inequality  upon  such  a  different 
footing  that  the  result  is  harmony  without  clash  of  in- 
terests, and  if  in  some  countries  we  are  drawn  into  the 
arena  now,  and  forced  into  competition,  the  very  slack- 
ness of  interest  which  is  sometimes  complained  of  is 
an  indirect  testimony  to  the  truth  that  we  know  of 
better  things.  And  as  those  who  know  of  better 
things  are  more  injured  by  following  the  less  good 
than  those  who  know  them  not,  so  our  Catholic  girls 
seem  to  be  either  more  indifferent  about  their  work  or 
more  damaged  by  the  spirit  of  competition  if  they 
enter  into  it,  than  those  who  consider  it  from  a  dif- 
ferent plane. 

2,  Natural  science  has  of  late  years  assumed  a  title 
to  which  it  has  no  claim,  and  calls  itself  simply 
"  Science," — presumably  "for  short,"  but  to  the  great 
confusion  of  young  minds,  or  rather  with  the  effect 


MATHEMATICS  AND  NATURE  STUDY  119 

of  contracting  their  range  of  vision  within  very  narrow 
limits,  as  if  theology  and  Biblical  study,  and  mental 
and  moral  and  historical  and  political  science,  had  no 
place  of  mention  in  the  rational  order  where  things 
are  studied  in  their  causes. 

Inquiry  was  made  in  several  schools  where  natural 
science  was  taught  according  to  the  syllabuses  of  the 
Board  of  Education.  The  question  was  asked,  "  What 
IS  science  ?  " — and  without  exception  the  answers 
indicated  that  science  was  understood  to  mean  the 
study  of  the  phenomena  of  the  physical  world  in 
their  causes.  The  name  "  Science "  used  by  itself 
has  been  the  cause  of  this,  and  has  led  to  the  usual 
consequences  of  the  assumption  of  unauthorized 
titles. 

Things  had  been  working  up  in  England  during 
the  last  few  years  towards  this  misconception  in  the 
schools.  On  the  one  hand  there  was  the  great  im- 
petus given  to  physical  research  and  experimental 
science  in  recent  years,  so  that  its  discoveries  absorbed 
more  and  more  attention,  and  this  filtered  down  to 
the  school  books. 

On  the  other  hand,  especially  since  the  South 
African  war,  there  had  been  a  great  stir  in  reaction 
against  mere  lessons  from  books,  and  it  was  seen 
that  we  wanted  more  personal  initiative  and  thought, 
and  resourcefulness,  and  self-reUance,  and  many  other 
qualities  which  our  education  had  not  tended  to  de- 
velop. It  was  seen  that  we  were  unpractical  in  our 
instruction,  that  minds  passed  under  the  discipline  of 
school  and  came  out  again,  still  slovenly,  unobservant, 
unscientific  in  temper,  impatient,  flippant,  inaccurate, 


120        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

tending  to  guess  and  to  jump  at  conclusions,  to  gener- 
alize hastily,  etc.  It  was  observed  that  many  unskil- 
ful hands  came  out  of  the  schools,  clumsy  fingers, 
wanting  in  neatness,  untidy  in  work,  inept  in  measur- 
ing and  weighing,  incapable  of  handling  things  intelli- 
gently. There  had  come  an  awakening  from  the  dreams 
of  1870,  when  we  felt  so  certain  that  all  England  was 
to  be  made  good  and  happy  through  books.  A  remedy 
was  sought  in  natural  science,  and  the  next  educa- 
tional wave  which  was  to  roll  over  us  began  to  rise. 
It  was  thought  that  the  temper  of  the  really  scientific 
man,  so  patient  in  research,  so  accurate  and  conscien- 
tious, so  slow  to  dogmatize,  so  deferential  to  others, 
might  be  fostered  by  experimental  science  in  the 
schools,  acquiring  "  knowledge  at  first  hand,"  making 
experiments,  looking  with  great  respect  at  balances, 
weighing  and  measuring,  and  giving  an  account  of 
results.  So  laboratories  were  fitted  up  at  great  ex- 
pense, and  teachers  with  university  degrees  in  science 
were  sought  after.  The  height  of  the  tide  seemed  to 
be  reached  in  1904  and  1905 — to  judge  by  the  tone  of 
Eegulations  for  the  Curricula  of  Secondary  Schools 
issued  by  the  Board  of  Education — for  in  these  years 
it  is  most  insistent  and  exacting  for  girls  as  well  as 
boys,  as  to  time  and  scope  of  the  syllabus  in  this 
branch.  Then  disillusion  seems  to  have  set  in  and 
the  tide  began  to  ebb.  It  appeared  that  the  results 
were  small  and  poor  in  proportion  to  expectation  and 
to  the  outlay  on  laboratories.  The  desirable  qualities 
did  not  seem  to  develop  as  had  been  hoped,  the  temper 
of  mind  fostered  was  not  entirely  what  had  been 
^esired.    The  conscientious  accuracy  that  was  to  com§ 


MATHEMATICS  AND  NATURE  STUDY  121 

of  measuring  a  millimetre  and  weighing  a  milligramme 
was  disappointing,  and  also  the  fluent  readiness  to  give 
an  account  of  observations  made,  the  desired  accuracy 
of  expression,  the  caution  in  drawing  inferences.  The 
links  between  this  teaching  and  after  life  did  not 
seem  to  be  satisfactorily  established.  The  Board  of 
Education  showed  the  first  signs  of  a  change  of  out- 
look by  the  readjustment  in  the  curriculum  giving 
an  alternative  syllabus  for  girls,  and  the  latitude  in 
this  direction  is  widening  by  degrees.  It  begins  to 
be  whispered  that  even  in  some  boys'  schools  the 
laboratory  is  only  used  under  compulsion  or  by  excep- 
tional students,  and  the  wave  seems  likely  to  go  down 
as  rapidly  as  it  rose. 

Probably  for  girls  the  strongest  argument  against 
experimental  science  taught  in  laboratories  is  that  it 
has  so  little  connexion  with  after-life.  As  a  discipline 
the  remedy  did  not  go  deeply  enough  into  the  realities 
of  life  to  reach  the  mental  defects  of  girls ;  it  was  arti- 
ficial, and  they  laid  it  aside  as  a  part  of  school  life 
when  they  went  home.  Latitude  is  now  given  by  the 
Board  of  Education  for  "an  approved  course  in  a 
combination  of  the  following  subjects :  needlework, 
cooking,  laundry-work,  housekeeping,  and  household 
hygiene  for  girls  over  fifteen  years  of  age  to  be  substi- 
tuted partially  or  wholly  for  science  and  for  mathe- 
matics other  than  arithmetic  ".  Comparing  this  with 
the  regulations  of  five  or  six  years  ago  when  the  only 
alternative  for  girls  was  a  "  biological  subject  "  instead 
of  physics,  and  elementary  hygiene  as  a  substitute  for 
chemistry,  it  would  seem  as  if  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation had  had  reason   to  be  dissatisfied  with  th^ 


122        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

"  science  "  teaching  for  girls,  and  was  determined  to 
seek  a  more  practical  system. 

This  practical  aspect  of  things  is  penetrating  into 
every  department,  and  when  it  is  combined  with  some 
study  of  first  principles  nothing  better  can  be  desired. 
For  instance,  in  the  teaching  of  geography,  of  botany, 
etc.,  there  is  a  growing  inclination  to  follow  the  line 
of  reality,  the  middle  course  between  the  book  alone 
and  the  laboratory  alone,  so  that  these  subjects 
gather  living  interest  from  their  many  points  of  con- 
tact with  human  life,  and  give  more  play  to  the 
powers  of  children.  As  the  text-book  of  geography 
is  more  and  more  superseded  by  the  use  of  the  atlas 
alone,  and  the  botanical  chart  by  the  children's  own 
drawings,  and  by  the  beautiful  illustrations  in  books 
prepared  especially  for  them,  the  way  is  opened  be- 
fore them  to  worlds  of  beauty  and  wonder  which 
they  may  have  for  their  own  possession  by  the  use  of 
their  eyes  and  ears  and  thoughts  and  reasonings. 

3.  But  better  than  all  new  apparatus  and  books 
of  delight  is  the  informal  study  of  the  world  around 
us  which  has  grown  up  by  the  side  of  organized 
teaching  of  natural  science.  The  name  of  "  nature 
study"  is  the  least  attractive  point  about  it;  the  re- 
ality escapes  from  all  conventionalities  of  instruction 
and  looks  and  listens,  and  learns  without  the  rules  and 
boundaries  which  belong  to  real  lessons.  Its  range 
is  not  restricted  within  formal  limits ;  it  is  neither 
botany  nor  natural  history,  nor  physics,  neither  in- 
struction on  light  nor  heat  nor  sound,  but  it  wanders 
on  a  voyage  of  discovery  into  all  these  domains.  And 
io  so  f  q,r  as  it  does  this,  it  appeals  very  strongly  to 


MATHEMATICS  AND  NATURE  STUDY  123 

children.  Children  usually  delight  in  flowers  and  dis- 
like botany,  are  fond  of  animals  and  rather  indifferent 
to  natural  history.  Life  is  what  awakens  their  in- 
terest ;  they  love  the  living  thing  as  a  whole  and  do  not 
care  much  for  analysis  or  classification;  these  interests 
grow  up  later. 

The  object  of  informal  nature  study  is  to  put 
children  directly  in  touch  with  the  beautiful  and 
wonderful  things  which  are  within  their  reach.  Its 
lesson-book  is  everywhere,  its  time  is  every  time,  its 
spirit  is  wonder  and  delight.  This  is  for  the  children. 
Those  who  teach  it  have  to  look  beyond,  and  it  is  not 
so  easy  to  teach  as  it  is  to  learn.  It  cannot,  properly 
speaking,  be  learned  by  teachers  out  of  books,  though 
books  can  do  a  great  deal.  But  a  long-used  quiet 
habit  of  observation  gives  it  life  and  the  stored-up 
sweetness  of  years — "  the  old  is  better  ".  The  most 
charming  books  on  nature  study  necessarily  give  a 
second-hand  tone  to  the  teaching.  But  the  point  of 
it  all  is  knowledge  at  first-hand ;  yet,  for  a  child, 
knowledge  at  first-hand  is  so  limited  that  some  one 
to  refer  to,  and  some  one  to  guide  them  is  a  necessity, 
some  one  who  will  say  at  the  right  moment  "  look  " 
and  "listen,"  and  who  has  looked  and  listened  for 
years.  Perhaps  the  requirement  of  knowledge  at  first- 
hand for  children  has  sometimes  been  pushed  a  little 
too  far,  with  a  deadening  effect,  for  the  progress  of 
such  knowledge  is  very  slow  and  laborious.  How 
little  we  should  know  if  we  only  admitted  first-hand 
knowledge,  but  the  stories  of  wonder  from  those  who 
have  seen  urge  us  on  to  see  for  ourselves ;  and  so  we 
swing  backwards  9,nd  forwards,  from  the  world  out. 


124        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

side  to  the  books,  to  find  out  more,  from  the  books  to 
the  world  outside  to  see  for  ourselves.  And  a  good 
teacher,  who  is  an  evergreen  learner,  goes  backwards 
and  forwards,  too,  sharing  the  work  and  heightening 
the  delight.  All  the  stages  come  in  turn,  over  and 
over  again,  observation,  experiment,  inquiry  from 
others  whether  orally  or  in  books,  and  in  this  subject 
books  aboimd  more  fascinating  than  fairy  tales,  and 
their  latest  charm  is  that  they  are  laying  aside  the 
pose  of  a  fairy  tale  and  tell  the  simple  truth. 

The  love  of  nature,  awakened  early,  is  a  great 
estate  with  which  to  endow  a  child,  but  it  needs  edu- 
cation, that  the  proprietor  of  the  estate  may  know 
how  to  manage  it,  and  not — with  the  manners  of  a 
parvenu — miss  either  the  inner  spirit  or  the  outward 
behaviour  belonging  to  the  property.  This  right 
manner  and  spirit  of  possession  is  what  the  informal 
"  nature  study  "  aims  at ;  it  is  a  point  of  view.  Now 
the  point  of  view  as  to  the  outside  world  means  a 
great  deal  in  life.  Countrymen  do  not  love  nature 
as  townsmen  love  it.  Their  affection  is  deeper  but 
less  emotional,  like  old  friendships,  undemonstrative 
but  everlasting.  Countrymen  see  without  looking, 
and  say  very  little  about  it.  Townsmen  in  the 
country  look  long  and  say  what  they  have  seen,  but 
they  miss  many  things.  A  farmer  stands  stolidly 
among  the  graces  of  his  frisky  lambs  and  seems  to 
miss  their  meaning,  but  this  is  because  the  manners 
cultivated  in  his  calling  do  not  allow  the  expression 
of  feeling.  It  is  all  in  his  soul  somewhere,  deeply  at 
home,  but  impossible  to  utter.  The  townsman  looks 
eagerly,  expresses  a  great  deal,  expresses  it  well,  but 


MATHEMATICS  AND  NATUEE  STUDY  125 

misses  the  spirit  from  want  of  a  back -ground  to  his 
picture.  One  must  know  the  whole  round  of  the 
year  in  the  country  to  catch  the  spirit  of  any  season 
and  perceive  whence  it  comes  and  whither  it  goes. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  countryman  in  town  thinks 
that  there  is  no  beauty  of  the  world  left  for  him  to 
see,  because  the  spirit  there  is  a  spirit  of  the  hour 
and  not  of  the  season,  and  natural  beauty  has  to  be 
caught  in  evanescent  appearances — a  florist's  window 
full  of  orchids  in  place  of  his  woodlands — and  his 
mind  is  too  slow  to  catch  these.  This  too  quick  or 
too  slow  habit  of  seeing  belongs  to  minds  as  well  as 
to  callings ;  and  when  children  are  learning  to  look 
around  them  at  the  world  outside,  it  has  to  be  taken 
into  account.  Some  will  see  without  looking  and  be 
satisfied  slowly  to  drink  in  impressions,  and  they  are 
really  glad  to  learn  to  express  what  they  see.  Others, 
the  quick,  so-called  "clever"  children,  look,  and 
judge,  and  comment,  and  overshoot  the  mark  many 
times  before  they  really  see.  These  may  learn 
patience  in  waiting  for  their  garden  seeds,  and  quiet- 
ness from  watching  birds  and  beasts,  and  deliberation, 
to  a  certain  extent,  from  their  constant  mistakes. 
To  have  the  care  of  plants  may  teach  them  a  good 
deal  of  watchfulness  and  patience;  it  is  of  greater 
value  to  a  child  to  have  grown  one  perfect  flower  than 
to  have  pulled  many  to  pieces  to  examine  their  struc- 
ture. And  the  care  of  animals  may  teach  a  great 
deal  more  if  it  learns  to  keep  the  balance  between 
silly  idolatry  of  pets  and  cruel  negligence — the  hot  and 
cold  extremes  of  selfishness. 

Little  gardens  of  their  own  are  perhaps  the  best 


126        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

gifts  which  can  be  given  to  children.  To  work  in 
them  stores  up  not  only  health  but  joy.  Every 
flower  in  their  garden  stands  for  so  much  happiness, 
and  with  that  happiness  an  instinct  for  home  life  and 
simple  pleasures  will  strike  deep  roots.  From  growing 
the  humblest  annual  out  of  a  seed-packet  to  grafting 
roses  there  is  work  for  every  age,  and  even  in  the  dead 
season  of  the  year  the  interest  of  a  garden  never  dies. 

In  new  countries  gardens  take  new  aspects.  A 
literal  version  of  a  garden  party  in  the  Transvaal 
suggests  possibilities  of  emancipation  from  the  con- 
ventionalities which  weary  the  older  forms  of  enter- 
tainment with  us.  Its  object  was  not  to  play  in  a 
garden,  but  to  plant  one.  Guests  came  from  afar, 
each  one  bringing  a  contribution  of  plants.  The  after- 
noon was  spent  in  laying  out  the  beds  and  planting 
the  offerings,  in  hard,  honest,  dirty  work.  And  all  the 
guests  went  home  feeling  that  they  had  really  lived 
a  day  that  was  worth  living,  for  a  garden  had  been 
made,  in  the  rough,  it  is  true ;  but  even  in  the  rough 
in  such  a  new  country  a  garden  is  a  great  possession. 

The  outcome  of  these  considerations  is  that  the 
love  of  nature  is  a  great  source  of  happiness  for 
children,  happiness  of  the  best  kind  in  taking  posses- 
sion of  a  world  that  seems  to  be  in  many  ways 
designed  especially  for  them.  It  brings  their  minds 
to  a  place  where  many  ways  meet  ;  to  the  confines 
of  science,  for  they  want  to  know  the  reasons  of 
things ;  to  the  confines  of  art,  for  what  they  can 
understand  they  will  strive  to  interpret  and  express ; 
to  the  confines  of  worship,  for  a  child's  soul,  hushed 
in  wonder,  is  very  near  to  God. 


CHAPTER  Vin. 

ENGLISH. 

"  If  Chaucer,  as  has  been  said,  is  Spring,  it  is  a  modern,  pre- 
mature Spring,  followed  by  an  interval  of  doubtful  weather, 
Sidney  is  the  very  Spring — the  later  May.  And  in  prose  he  is 
the  authentic,  only  Spring.  It  is  a  prose  full  of  young  joy,  and 
young  power,  and  young  inexperience,  and  young  melancholy, 
which  is  the  wilfulness  of  joy  ;  .  .  . 

"  Sidney's  prose  is  treasureable,  not  only  for  its  absolute 
merits,  but  as  the  bud  from  which  English  prose,  that  gorgeous 
and  varied  flower,  has  unfolded." — Fbakcis  Thompson,  "The 
Prose  of  Poets  ". 

The  study  of  one's  own  language  is  the  very  heart  of 
a  modern  education ;  to  the  study  of  English,  there- 
fore, belongs  a  central  place  in  the  education  of 
English-speaking  girls.  It  has  two  functions :  one  is 
to  become  the  instrument  by  which  almost  all  the 
other  subjects  are  apprehended ;  the  other,  more 
characteristically  its  own,  is  to  give  that  particular 
tone  to  the  mind  which  distinguishes  it  from  others. 
This  is  a  function  that  is  always  in  process  of  further 
development ;  for  the  mind  of  a  nation  elaborates  its 
language,  and  the  language  gives  tone  to  the  mind 
of  the  new  generation.  The  influences  at  work  upon 
the  English  language  at  present  are  very  complex, 
and  play  on  it  with  great  force,  ao  that  the  changes 

127 


128        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

are  startling  in  their  rapidity.  English  is  not  only 
the  language  of  a  nation  or  of  a  race,  not  even  of  an 
empire ;  and  the  inflowing  elements  affirm  this.  We 
have  kindred  beyond  the  empire,  and  their  speech  is 
more  and  more  impressing  ours,  forging  from  the 
common  stock,  which  they  had  from  us,  whole  arm- 
ouries full  of  expressive  words,  words  with  edge  and 
point  and  keen  directness  which  never  miss  the  mark. 
Some  are  unquestionably  an  acquisition,  those 
which  come  from  States  where  the  language  is 
honoured  and  studied  with  a  carefulness  that  puts  to 
shame  all  except  our  very  best.  They  have  kept 
some  gracious  and  rare  expressions,  now  quaint  to 
our  ear,  preserved  out  of  Elizabethan  English  in  the 
current  speech  of  to-day.  These  have  a  fragrance  of 
the  olden  time,  but  we  cannot  absorb  them  again  into 
our  own  spoken  language.  Then  they  have  their 
incisive  modern  expressions  so  perfectly  adapted  for 
their  end  that  they  are  irresistible  even  to  those  who 
cling  by  tradition  to  the  more  stable  element  in 
English.  These  also  come  from  States  in  which 
language  is  conscious  of  itself  and  looks  carefully  to 
literary  use,  and  they  do  us  good  rather  than  harm. 
Other  importations  from  younger  States  are  too 
evidently  unauthorized  to  be  in  any  way  beautiful, 
and  are  blamed  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean  as  de- 
basing the  coinage.  But  these,  too,  are  making 
their  way,  so  cheap  and  convenient  are  they,  and  so 
expressive. 

It  is  needful  in  educating  children  to  remember 
that  this  strong  inflowing  current  must  be  taken  into 
account,  and  also  to  remember  that  it  does  not  be- 


ENGLISH  189 

long  to  them.  They  must  first  be  trained  in  the  use 
of  the  more  lasting  elements  of  English ;  later  on 
they  may  use  their  discretion  in  catching  the  new 
words  which  are  afloat  in  the  air,  but  the  foundations 
must  be  laid  otherwise.  It  takes  the  bloom  off  the 
freshness  of  young  writers  if  they  are  determined  to 
exhibit  the  last  new  words  that  are  in,  or  out  of 
season.  New  words  have  a  doubtful  position  at 
first.  They  float  here  and  there  like  thistle-down, 
and  their  future  depends  upon  where  they  settle. 
But  until  they  are  established  and  accepted  they  are 
out  of  place  for  children's  use.  They  are  contrary 
to  the  perfect  manner  for  children.  We  ask  that 
their  English  should  be  simple  and  unaffected,  not 
that  it  should  gUtter  with  the  newest  importations, 
briUiant  as  they  may  be.  It  is  from  the  more  per- 
manent element  in  the  language  that  they  will  acquire 
what  they  ought  to  have,  the  characteristic  traits  of 
thought  and  manner  which  belong  to  it.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  look  for  such  things  in  children's  v^riting 
and  speaking.  The  first  shoots  and  leaves  may  come 
up  early  though  the  full  growth  and  flower  may  be 
long  waited  for.  These  characteristics  are  often  better 
put  into  words  by  foreign  critics  than  by  ourselves, 
for  we  are  inclined  to  take  them  as  a  whole  and  to 
take  them  for  granted ;  hence  the  trouble  experienced 
by  educated  foreigners  in  catching  the  characteristics 
of  English  style,  and  their  surprise  in  finding  that 
we  have  no  authentic  guides  to  EngHsh  composition, 
and  that  the  court  of  final  appeal  is  only  the  standard 
of  the  best  use.  The  words  of  a  German  critic  on  a 
collection  of  English  portraits  in   BerUn   are  very 

9 


130        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

happily  pointed  and  might  be  as  aptly  applied  to 
writing  as  to  painting. 

"  English,  utterly  English !  Nothing  on  God's 
earth  could  be  more  English  than  this  whole  collec- 
tion. The  personality  of  the  artist  (it  happened  that 
he  was  an  Irishman),  the  countenances  of  the  subjects, 
their  dress,  the  discreetly  suggestive  backgrounds,  all 
have  the  characteristic  touch  of  British  culture,  very 
refined,  very  high-bred,  very  quiet,  very  much  clari- 
fied, very  confident,  very  neat,  very  well-appointed,  a 
little  dreamy  and  just  a  little  wearisome  —  the 
precise  qualities  which  at  the  same  time  impress  and 
annoy  us  in  the  English." 

This  is  exactly  what  might  be  said  of  Pater's  writ- 
ing, but  that  is  full-grown  Enghsh.  Pater  is  not  a 
model  for  children,  they  would  find  him  more  than 
"  just  a  little  wearisome  ".  If  anyone  could  put  into 
words  what  Sir  Joshua  Keynolds'  portraits  of  children 
express,  that  would  be  exactly  what  we  want  for  the 
model  of  their  English.  They  can  write  and  they 
can  speak  in  a  beautiful  way  of  their  own  if  they  are 
allowed  a  little  liberty  to  grow  wild,  and  trained 
a  little  to  climb.  Their  charm  is  candour,  as  it  is 
the  charm  of  Sir  Joshua's  portraits,  with  a  quiet  con- 
fidence that  all  is  well  in  the  world  they  know,  and 
that  everyone  is  kind  ;  this  gives  the  look  of  trustful 
innocence  and  unconcern.  Their  writing  and  talk- 
ing have  this  charm,  as  long  as  nothing  has  happened 
to  make  them  conscious  of  themselves.  But  these 
first  blossoms  drop  off,  and  there  is  generally  an  in- 
termediate stage  in  which  they  can  neither  speak 
nor  write,  but  keep  their  thoughts  close,  and  will  not 


ENGLISH  131 

give  themselves  away.  Only  when  that  stage  is  past 
do  they  really  and  with  full  consciousness  seek  to 
express  themselves,  and  pay  some  attention  to  the 
self-expression  of  others.  This  third  stage  has  its 
May-day,  when  the  things  which  have  become  hack- 
neyed to  our  minds  from  long  use  come  to  them 
with  the  full  force  of  revelations,  and  they  astonish 
us  by  their  exuberant  delight.  But  they  have  a 
right  to  their  May-day  and  it  ought  not  to  be  cut 
short ;  the  sun  will  go  down  of  itself,  and  then  June 
will  come  in  its  own  time  and  ripen  the  green  wood, 
and  after  that  will  come  pruning  time,  in  another 
season,  and  then  the  phase  of  severity  and  fastidious- 
ness, and  after  that — if  they  continue  to  write — they 
will  be  truly  themselves. 

In  every  stage  we  have  our  duty  to  do,  encouraging 
and  pruning  by  turns,  and,  as  in  everything  else,  we 
must  begin  with  ourselves  and  go  on  with  ourselves 
that  there  may  be  always  something  living  to  give, 
and  some  growth ;  for  in  this  we  need  never  cease  to 
grow,  in  knowledge,  in  taste,  and  in  critical  power. 
The  means  are  not  far  to  seek ;  if  we  really  care  about 
these  things,  the  means  are  everywhere,  in  reading 
the  best  things,  in  taking  notes,  in  criticising  inde- 
pendently and  comparing  with  the  best  criticism,  in 
forming  our  own  views  and  yet  keeping  a  willingness 
to  modify  them,  in  an  attitude  of  mind  that  is  always 
learning,  always  striving,  always  raising  its  standard, 
never  impatient  but  permanently  dissatisfied. 

We  have  three  spheres  of  action  in  the  use  of  the 

language, — there  is  English  to  speak,  English  to  write, 

and  the  wide  field  of  English  to  read,  and  there 

9* 


132        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

a  jovital  interests  bound  up  in  each  for  the  after  life 
of  children.  As  they  speak  so  will  be  the  tone  of 
their  intercourse ;  as  they  write,  so  will  be  the  stan- 
dard of  their  habits  of  thought,  and  as  they  read  so 
will  be  the  atmosphere  of  their  life,  and  the  prepara- 
tion of  their  judgment  for  those  critical  moments  of 
choice  which  are  the  pivots  upon  which  its  whole 
action  moves. 

If  practice  alone  would  develop  it  to  perfection, 
speaking  ought  to  be  easy  to  learn,  but  it  does  not 
prove  so,  and  especially  when  children  are  together 
in  schools  the  weeds  grow  faster  than  the  crop,  and 
the  crop  is  apt  to  be  thin.  The  language  of  the 
remarity  holds  its  own  ;  children  among  children  can 
express  with  a  very  small  vocabulary  what  they  want 
to  say  to  each  other,  whereas  an  only  child  who  lives 
with  its  elders  has  usually  a  larger  vocabulary  than 
it  can  manage,  which  makes  the  sayings  of  only 
children  quaint  and  almost  weird,  as  the  perfection 
of  the  instrument  persuades  us  that  there  is  a  full- 
grown  thought  within  it,  and  a  child's  fancy  sud- 
denly laughs  at  us  from  under  the  disguise. 

There  is  general  lamentation  at  present  because 
the  art  of  conversation  has  fallen  to  a  very  low  ebb  ; 
there  is,  in  particular,  much  complaint  of  the  conver- 
sation of  girls  whose  education  is  supposed  to  have 
been  careful.  The  subjects  they  care  to  talk  of  are 
found  to  be  few  and  poor,  their  power  of  expressing 
themselves  very  imperfect,  the  scanty  words  at  their 
command  worked  to  death  in  supplying  for  all  kinds 
of  things  to  which  they  are  not  appropriate.  We 
know  that  we  have  a  great  deal  of  minted  gold  in  the 


ENGLISH  133 

English  language,  but  little  of  it  finds  its  way  into 
our  general  conversation,  most  of  our  intercourse  is 
carried  on  with  small  change,  a  good  deal  of  it  even 
in  coppers,  and  the  worst  trouble  of  all  is  that  so  few 
seem  to  care  or  to  regret  it.  Perhaps  the  young 
generation  will  do  so  later  in  life,  but  unless  some- 
thing is  done  for  them  during  the  years  of  their 
education  it  does  not  seem  probable,  except  in  the 
case  of  the  few  who  are  driven  by  their  professional 
work  to  think  of  it,  or  drawn  to  it  by  some  influence 
that  compels  them  to  exert  themselves  in  earnest. 

Listening  to  the  conversation  of  girls  whose 
thoughts  and  language  are  still  in  a  fluid  state,  say 
from  the  age  of  17  to  25,  gives  a  great  deal  of  matter 
for  thought  to  those  who  are  interested  in  education, 
and  this  point  of  language  is  of  particular  interest. 
There  are  the  new  catch-words  of  each  year;  they 
had  probably  a  great  piquancy  in  the  mouth  of  the 
originator  but  they  very  soon  become  flat  by  repeti- 
tion, then  they  grow  jaded,  are  more  and  more  ne- 
glected and  pass  away  altogether.  From  their  rising 
to  their  setting  the  arc  is  very  short — about  five  years 
seems  to  be  the  limit  of  their  existence,  and  no  one 
regrets  them.  We  do  not  seem  to  be  in  a  happy 
vein  of  development  at  present  as  to  the  use  of  words, 
and  these  short-lived  catch-words  are  generally  poor 
in  quality.  Our  girl  talkers  are  neither  rich  nor  in- 
dependent in  their  language,  they  lay  themselves 
under  obligations  to  anyone  who  will  furnish  a  new 
catch-word,  and  especially  to  boys  from  whom  they 
take  rather  than  accept  contributions  of  a  different 
kind.     It  is  an  old-fashioned  regret  that  girls  should 


134        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIELS 

copy  boys  instead  of  developing  themselves  indepen- 
dently in  language  and  manners;  but  though  old- 
fashioned,  it  will  never  cease  to  be  true  that  what  was 
made  to  be  beautiful  on  its  own  line  is  dwarfed  and 
crippled  by  straining  it  into  imitation  of  something 
else  which  it  can  never  be. 

What  can  be  done  for  the  girls  to  give  them  first 
more  independence  in  their  language  and  then  more 
power  to  express  themselves?  Probably  the  best 
cure,  food  and  tonic  in  one,  is  reading ;  a  taste  for  the 
best  reading  alters  the  whole  condition  of  mental  life, 
and  v^dthout  being  directly  attacked  the  defects  in 
conversation  will  correct  themselves.  But  we  could 
do  more  than  is  often  done  for  the  younger  children, 
not  by  talking  directly  about  these  things,  but  by 
being  a  little  harder  to  please,  and  giving  when  it  is 
possible  the  cordial  commendation  which  makes  them 
feel  that  what  they  have  done  was  worth  working  for. 

Becitation  and  reading  aloud,  besides  all  their  other 
uses,  have  this  use  that  they  accustom  children  to  the 
sound  of  their  own  voices  uttering  beautiful  words, 
which  takes  away  the  odd  shyness  which  some  of 
them  feel  in  going  beyond  their  usual  round  of  ex- 
pressions and  extending  their  vocabulary.  We  owe 
it  to  our  language  as  well  as  to  each  individual  child 
to  make  recitation  and  reading  aloud  as  beautiful  as 
possible.  Perhaps  one  of  the  causes  of  our  conversa- 
tional slovenhness  is  the  neglect  of  these ;  critics  of  an 
older  generation  have  not  ceased  to  lament  their 
decay,  but  it  seems  as  if  better  times  were  coming 
again,  and  that  as  the  fundamentals  of  breathing  and 
voice-production  are  taught,  we  shall  increase  the 


ENGLISH  135 

scope  of  the  power  acquired  and  give  it  more  import- 
ance. There  is  a  great  deal  underlying  all  this, 
beyond  the  acquirement  of  voice  and  pronunciation. 
If  recitation  is  cultivated  there  is  an  inducement  to 
learn  by  heart ;  this  in  its  turn  ministers  to  the  love 
of  reading  and  to  the  formation  of  literary  taste,  and 
enriches  the  whole  life  of  the  mind.  There  is  an  in- 
direct but  far-reaching  gain  of  self-possession,  from 
the  need  for  outward  composure  and  inward  concen- 
tration of  mind  in  reciting  before  others.  But  it  is 
a  matter  of  importance  to  choose  recitations  so  that 
nothing  should  be  learnt  which  must  be  thrown 
away,  nothing  which  is  not  worth  remembering  for 
life.  It  is  a  pity  to  make  children  acquire  what  they 
will  soon  despise  when  they  might  learn  something 
that  they  will  grow  up  to  and  prize  as  long  as  they  live. 
There  are  beautiful  things  that  they  can  understand, 
if  something  is  wanted  for  to-day,  which  have  at  the 
same  time  a  life  that  will  never  be  outgrown.  There 
are  poems  with  two  aspects,  one  of  which  is  ac- 
ceptable to  a  child  and  the  other  to  the  grown-up 
mind ;  these,  one  is  glad  to  find  in  anthologies  for 
children.  But  there  are  many  poems  about  children 
of  which  the  interest  is  so  subtle  as  to  be  quite  un- 
suitable for  their  collection.  Such  a  poem  is  "  We 
are  seven".  Children  can  be  taught  to  say  it,  even 
with  feeling,  but  their  own  genuine  impression  of  it 
seems  to  be  that  the  little  girl  was  rather  weak  in 
intellect  for  eight  years  old,  or  a  little  perverse. 
Whereas  Browning's  "  An  incident  of  the  French 
camp "  appeals  to  them  by  pride  of  courage  as  it 
does  to  us  by  pathos.     It  may  not  be  a  gem,  poeti- 


136        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

cally  speaking,  but  it  lives.  As  children  grow  older 
it  is  only  fair  to  allow  them  some  choice  in  what 
they  learn  and  recite,  to  give  room  for  their  taste  to 
follow  its  own  bent ;  there  are  a  few  things  which  it 
is  well  that  every  one  should  know  by  heart,  but  be- 
yond these  the  field  is  practically  without  limits. 

Perfect  recitation  or  reading  aloud  is  very  rare  and 
difficult  to  acquire.  For  a  few  years  there  was  a 
tendency  to  over-emphasis  in  both,  and,  in  recitation, 
to  teach  gesture,  for  which  as  a  nation  we  are  singu- 
larly inapt.  This  is  happily  disappearing,  simplicity 
and  restraint  are  regaining  their  own,  at  least  in  the 
best  teaching  for  girls.  As  to  reading  aloud  to 
children  it  begins  to  be  recognized  that  it  should  not 
be  too  explicit,  nor  too  emphatic,  nor  too  pointed  ; 
that  it  must  leave  something  for  the  natural  grace 
of  the  hstener's  intelligence  to  supply  and  to  feel. 
Thereis  a  didactic  tone  in  reading  which  says,  "  you  are 
most  unintelligent,  but  listen  to  ME  and  there  may  yet 
be  hope  that  you  will  understand  ".  This  leaves  the 
"poor  creatures"  of  the  class  still  unmoved  and  un- 
enlightened ;  "  the  child  is  not  awakened,"  while  the 
more  sensitive  minds  are  irritated ;  they  can  feel  it  as 
an  impertinence  without  quite  knowing  why  they  are 
hurt.  It  is  a  question  of  manners  and  considera- 
tion which  is  perceptible  to  them,  for  they  like  what 
is  best — sympathy  and  suggestiveness  rather  than 
hammering  in.  They  can  help  each  other  by  their 
simple  insight  into  these  things  when  they  read  aloud, 
and  if  a  reading  lesson  in  class  is  conducted  as  an 
exercise  in  criticism  it  is  full  of  interest.  The  frank 
good-nature  and   gravity  of   twelve-year-old   critics 


ENGLISH  137 

makes  their  operations  quite  painless,  and  they  are 
accepted  with  equal  good  humour  and  gravity,  no  one 
wasting  any  emotion  and  a  great  deal  of  good  sense 
being  exchanged. 

Conversation,  as  conversation,  is  hard  to  teach,  we 
can  only  lead  the  way  and  lay  down  a  few  principles 
which  keep  it  in  the  right  path.  These  common- 
places of  warning,  as  old  as  civilization  itself,  belong 
to  manners  and  to  fundamental  unselfishness,  but 
obvious  as  they  are  they  have  to  be  said  and  to  be 
repeated  and  enforced  until  they  become  matters  of 
course.  Not  to  seem  bored,  not  to  interrupt,  not  to 
contradict,  not  to  make  personal  remarks,  not  to  talk  of 
oneself  (some  one  was  naive  enough  to  say  "  then  what 
is  there  to  talk  of  "),  not  to  get  heated  and  not  to  look 
cold,  not  to  do  all  the  talking  and  not  to  be  silent, 
not  to  advance  if  the  ground  seems  uncertain,  and  to 
be  sensitively  attentive  to  what  jars — all  these  and 
other  things  are  troublesome  to  obtain,  but  exceed- 
ingly necessary.  And  even  observing  them  all  we 
may  be  just  as  far  from  conversation  as  before ;  how 
often  among  English  people,  through  shyness  or 
otherwise,  it  simply  faints  from  inanition.  We  can 
at  least  teach  that  a  first  essential  is  to  have  some- 
thing to  say,  and  that  the  best  preparation  of  mind 
is  thought  and  reading  and  observation,  to  be  inter- 
ested in  many  things,  and  to  give  enough  personal 
application  to  a  few  things  as  to  have  something 
worth  sapng  about  them. 

By  testing  in  writing  every  step  of  an  educational 
course  a  great  deal  of  command  over  all  acquired 
materials  may  be  secured.     As  our  girls  grow  older. 


138        THE  EDUCATION  OP  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

essay-writing  becomes  the  most  powerful  means  for 
fashioning  their  minds  and  bringing  out  their  indi- 
vidual characteristics. 

It  is  customary  now  to  begin  with  oral  composi- 
tion,— quite  rightly,  for  one  difficulty  at  a  time  is 
enough.  But  when  children  have  to  write  for  them- 
selves the  most  natural  beginning  is  by  letters.  A 
great  difference  in  thought  and  power  is  observable 
in  their  first  attempts,  but  in  the  main  the  structure 
of  their  letters  is  similar,  like  the  houses  and  the 
moonfaced  persons  which  they  draw  in  the  same 
symbolic  way.  Perhaps  both  are  accepted  conven- 
tions to  which  they  conform — handed  down  through 
generations  of  the  nursery  tradition — though  students 
of  children  are  inclined  to  believe  that  these  symboli- 
cal drawings  represent  their  real  mind  in  the  repre- 
sentation of  material  things.  Their  communications 
move  in  little  bounds,  a  succession  of  happy  thoughts, 
the  kind  of  things  which  birds  in  conversation  might 
impart  to  one  another,  turning  their  heads  quickly 
from  side  to  side  and  catching  sight  of  many  things 
unrelated  amongst  themselves.  It  is  a  pity  that  this 
manner  is  often  allowed  to  last  too  long,  for  in  these 
stages  of  mental  training  it  is  better  to  be  on  the 
stretch  to  reach  the  full  stature  of  one's  age  rather 
than  to  linger  behind  it,  and  early  promise  in  com- 
position means  a  great  deal. 

To  write  of  the  things  which  belong  to  one's  age 
in  a  manner  that  is  fully  up  to  their  worth  or  even  a 
little  beyond  it,  is  better  than  to  strain  after  some- 
thing to  say  in  a  subject  that  is  beyond  the  mental 
grasp.      The  first  thing  to  learn  is  how  to  write 


ENGLISH  139 

pleasantly  about  the  most  simple  and  ordinary 
things.  But  a  common  fault  in  children's  writing 
is  to  wait  for  an  event, "  something  to  write  about," 
and  to  dispose  of  it  in  three  or  four  sentences  like 
telegrams. 

The  influences  which  determine  these  early  steps 
are,  first,  the  natural  habit  of  mind,  for  thoughtful 
children  see  most  interesting  and  strange  things  in 
their  surroundings;  secondly,  the  tone  of  their  ordinary 
conversation,  but  especially  a  disposition  that  is  un- 
selfish and  affectionate.  Warm-hearted  children  who 
are  gifted  with  sympathy  have  an  intuition  of  what 
will  give  pleasure,  and  that  is  one  of  the  great  secrets 
of  letter-writing.  But  the  letters  they  write  will  al- 
ways depend  in  a  great  measure  on  the  letters  they 
receive,  and  a  family  gift  for  letter-writing  is  generally 
the  outcome  of  a  happy  home-life  in  which  all  the 
members  are  of  interest  to  each  other  and  their  doings 
of  importance. 

What  sympathy  gives  to  letter-writing,  imagina- 
tion gives  to  the  first  essays  of  children  in  longer 
compositions.  Imagination  puts  them  in  sympathy 
with  all  the  world,  with  things  as  well  as  persons,  as 
affection  keeps  them  in  touch  with  every  detail  of 
the  home  world.  But  its  work  is  not  so  simple. 
Home  affection  is  true  and  is  a  law  to  itself ;  if  it  is 
present  it  holds  all  the  little  child's  world  in  a  right 
proportion,  because  all  heavenly  affection  is  bound  up 
with  it.  But  the  awakening  and  the  rapid  develop- 
ment of  imagination  as  girls  grow  up  needs  a  great 
deal  of  guidance  and  training.  Fancy  may  overgrow 
itself,  and  take  an  undue  predominance,  so  that  life 


140        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

is  tuned  to  the  pitch  of  imagination  and  not  imagina- 
tion to  the  pitch  of  Hfe.  It  is  hardly  possible  and 
hardly  to  be  desired  that  it  should  never  overflow 
the  Umits  of  perfect  moderation ;  if  it  is  to  be  con- 
trolled, there  must  be  something  to  control,  in  prun- 
ing there  must  be  some  strong  shoots  to  cut  back, 
and  in  toning  down  there  must  be  some  over-gaudy 
colours  to  subdue.  It  is  better  that  there  should  be 
too  much  life  than  too  little,  and  better  that  criticism 
should  find  something  vigorous  enough  to  lay  hold 
of,  rather  than  something  which  cannot  be  felt  at  all. 
This  is  the  time  to  teach  children  to  begin  their 
essays  without  preamble,  by  something  that  they 
really  want  to  say,  and  to  finish  them  leaving  some- 
thing still  unsaid  that  they  would  like  to  have  ex- 
pressed, so  as  not  to  pour  out  to  the  last  drop  their 
mind  or  their  fancy  on  any  subject.  This  discipline 
of  promptitude  in  beginning  and  restraint  at  the  end 
will  tell  for  good  upon  the  quality  of  their  writing. 

But  the  work  of  the  imagination  may  also  betray 
something  unreal  and  morbid, — this  is  a  more  serious 
fault  and  means  trouble  coming.  It  generally  points 
to  a  want  of  focus  in  the  mind  because  self  predomi- 
nates in  the  affections,  feeling  and  interest  are  self- 
centred.  Then  the  whole  development  of  mind  comes 
to  a  disappointing  check — the  mental  power  remains 
on  the  level  of  unstable  sixteen  years  old,  and  the 
selfish  side  develops  either  emotionally  or  frivolously 
— according  to  taste,  faster  than  it  can  be  con- 
trolled. 

There  are  cross-roads  at  about  sixteen  in  a  girl's 
life.    After  two  or  three  troublesome  years  she  is  go- 


ENGLISH  141 

ing  to  make  her  choice,  not  always  consciously  and 
deliberately,  but  those  who  are  alive  to  what  is  going 
on  may  expect  to  hear  about  this  time  her  speech 
from  the  throne,  announcing  what  the  direction  of 
her  life  is  going  to  be.  It  is  not  necessarily  the 
choice  of  a  vocation  in  life,  that  belongs  to  an  order 
of  things  that  has  neither  day  nor  hour  determined 
for  it,  but  it  is  when  the  mental  outlook  takes  a 
direction  of  its  own,  literary,  or  artistic,  or  philosophi- 
cal, or  worldly,  or  turning  towards  home ;  it  may  some- 
times be  the  moment  of  decisive  vocation  to  leave  all 
things  for  God,  or,  as  has  so  often  happened  in  the 
lives  of  the  Saints,  the  time  when  a  child's  first  de- 
sire, forgotton  for  a  while,  asserts  itself  again.  In 
any  case  it  is  generally  a  period  of  new  awakenings, 
and  if  things  are  as  they  ought  to  be,  generally  a 
time  of  deep  happiness — the  ideal  hour  in  the  day  of 
our  early  youth.  All  this  is  faithfully  rendered  in 
the  essays  of  that  time ;  we  unsuspectingly  give  our- 
selves away. 

After  this,  for  those  who  are  going  to  write  at  all, 
comes  the  "  viewy  "  stage,  and  this  is  full  of  interest. 
We  are  so  dogmatic,  so  defiant,  so  secure  in  our  per- 
suasions. It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  they  will 
ever  alter.  Yet  who  has  lived  through  this  phase  of 
abounding  activity  and  has  not  found  that,  at  first 
with  the  shock  of  disappointment,  and  afterwards 
without  regret,  a  memorial  cross  had  to  be  set  by 
our  wayside,  here  and  there,  marking  the  place  of 
rest  for  our  most  enthusiastic  convictions.  In  the 
end  one  comes  to  be  glad  of  it,  for  if  it  means  any- 
thing it  means  a  growth  in  the  truth. 


142         THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

The  criticism  of  essays  is  one  of  the  choice  oppor- 
tunities which  education  offers,  for  then  the  contact 
of  mind  with  mind  is  so  close  that  truth  can  be 
told  under  form  of  criticism,  which  as  exhortation 
would  have  been  less  easily  accepted.  It  is  evident 
that  increasing  freedom  must  be  allowed  as  the  years 
go  on,  and  that  girls  have  a  right  to  their  own  taste 
and  manner — and  within  the  limits  of  their  know- 
ledge to  form  their  own  opinions ;  but  it  is  in  this 
period  of  their  development  that  they  are  most  sensi- 
tive to  the  mental  influence  of  those  who  are  training 
them,  and  their  quick  responsiveness  to  the  best  is  a 
constant  stimulus  to  go  on  for  their  sakes,  discovering 
and  tasting  and  training  one's  discernment  in  what 
is  most  excellent. 

From  this  point  we  may  pass  to  what  is  first  in 
the  order  of  things — but  first  and  last  in  this  depart- 
ment of  an  English  education — and  that  is  reading, 
with  the  great  field  of  literature  before  us,  and  the 
duty  of  making  the  precious  inheritance  all  that  it 
ought  to  be  to  this  young  generation  of  ours — 
heiresses  to  all  its  best. 

English  literature  will  be  to  children  as  they  grow 
up,  what  we  have  made  it  to  them  in  the  beginning. 
There  will  always  be  the  exceptional  few,  privileged 
ones,  who  seem  to  have  received  the  key  to  it  as  a 
personal  gift.  They  will  find  their  way  without  us, 
but  if  we  have  the  honour  of  rendering  them  service 
we  may  do  a  great  deal  even  for  them  in  showing 
where  the  best  things  lie,  and  the  way  to  make  them 
one's  own.  But  the  greater  number  have  to  be  taken 
through  the  first  steps  with  much  thought  and  dis- 


ENGLISH  143 

cernment,  for  taste  in  literature  is  not  always  easy  to 
develop,  and  may  be  spoiled  by  bad  management  at 
the  beginning.  We  are  not  very  teachable  as  a  nation 
in  this  matter — our  young  taste  is  wayward,  and 
sometimes  contradictory,  it  will  not  give  account  of 
itself,  very  likely  it  cannot.  We  have  inarticulate 
convictions  that  this  is  right,  and  suits  us,  and  some- 
thing else  is  wrong  as  far  as  our  taste  is  concerned, 
and  that  we  have  rights  to  like  what  we  like  and 
condemn  what  we  do  not  like,  and  we  have  gone  a 
considerable  way  along  the  road  before  we  can  stop 
and  look  about  us  and  see  the  reason  of  our  choice. 
English  literature  itself  fosters  this  independent 
spirit  of  criticism  by  its  extraordinary  abundance,  its 
own  wide  liberty  of  spirit,  its  surpassing  truthfulness. 
Our  greatest  poets  and  our  truest  do  not  sing  to  an 
audience  but  to  their  Maker  and  to  His  world,  and 
let  anyone  who  can  understand  it  catch  the  song,  and 
sing  it  after  them.  No  doubt  many  have  fallen  from 
the  truth  and  piped  an  artificial  tune,  and  they  have 
had  their  following.  But  love  for  the  real  and  true  is 
very  deep  and  in  the  end  it  prevails,  and  as  far  as  we 
can  obtain  it  with  children  it  must  prevail. 

Their  first  acquaintance  with  beautiful  things  is 
best  established  by  reading  aloud  to  them,  and  this 
need  not  be  limited  entirely  to  what  they  can  under- 
stand at  the  time.  Even  if  we  read  something  that 
is  beyond  them,  they  have  listened  to  the  cadences, 
they  have  heard  the  song  without  the  words,  the 
words  will  come  to  them  later.  If  there  is  good 
ground  for  the  seed  to  fall  upon,  and  we  sow  good 
seed,  it  will  come  up  with  its  thirtyfold  or  more,  as 


144        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

seed  sown  in  the  mind  seems  always  to  come  up, 
whether  it  be  good  or  bad,  and  even  if  it  has  lain 
dormant  for  years.  There  are  good  moments  laid  up 
in  store  for  the  future  when  the  words,  which  have 
been  familiar  for  years,  suddenly  awake  to  life,  and 
their  meaning,  full-grown,  at  the  moment  when  we 
need  it,  or  at  the  moment  when  we  are  able  to  under- 
stand its  value,  dawns  upon  the  mind.  Then  we  are 
grateful  to  those  who  invested  these  revenues  for  us 
though  we  knew  it  not.  We  are  not  grateful  to  those 
who  give  us  the  less  good  though  pleasant  and  easy 
to  enjoy.  A  little  severity  and  fastidiousness  render 
us  better  service.  And  this  is  especially  true  for 
girls,  since  for  them  it  is  above  all  important  that 
there  should  be  a  touch  of  the  severe  in  their  taste, 
and  that  they  should  be  a  little  exacting,  for  if  they 
once  let  themselves  go  to  what  is  too  light-heartedly 
popular  they  do  not  know  where  to  draw  the  line  and 
they  go  very  far,  with  great  loss  to  themselves  and 
others. 

One  of  the  beautiful  things  of  to-day  in  England 
is  the  wealth  of  children's  literature.  It  is  a  peculiar 
grace  of  our  time  that  we  are  all  trying  to  give  the 
best  to  the  children,  and  this  is  most  of  all  remarkable 
in  the  books  published  for  them.  We  had  rather  a 
silly  moment  in  which  we  kept  them  babies  too  long 
and  thought  that  rhymes  without  reason  would  please 
them,  and  another  moment  when  we  were  just  a  little 
morbid  about  them  ;  but  now  we  have  struck  a  very 
happy  vein,  free  from  all  morbidness,  very  innocent 
and  very  happy,  abounding  in  life  and  in  no  way  un- 
fitting for  the  experiences   that  have  to  be  lived 


ENGLISH  145 

through  afterwards.  No  one  thinks  it  waste  of  time 
to  write  and  illustrate  books  for  children,  and  to  do 
their  very  best  in  both,  and  the  result  of  historical 
research  and  the  most  critical  care  of  texts  is  put 
within  the  children's  reach  with  a  real  understanding 
of  what  they  can  care  for.  A  true  appreciation  of 
the  English  classics  must  result  from  this,  and  the 
mere  reading  of  what  is  choice  is  an  early  safeguard 
against  the  less  good. 

Eeading,  without  commentary,  is  what  is  best 
accepted ;  we  are  beginning  to  come  back  to  this 
belief.  It  is  sigreed  almost  generally  that  there  has 
been  too  much  comment  and  especially  too  much 
analysis  in  our  teaching  of  literature,  and  that  the 
majesty  or  the  loveliness  of  our  great  writers'  works 
have  not  been  allowed  to  speak  for  themselves.  We 
have  not  trusted  them  enough,  and  we  have  not 
trusted  the  children  so  much  as  they  deserved.  The 
little  boy  who  said  he  could  understand  if  only  they 
would  not  explain  has  become  historical,  and  his 
word  of  warning,  though  it  may  not  have  sounded 
quite  respectful,  has  been  taken  into  account.  We 
have  now  fewer  of  the  literary  Baedeker's  guides  who 
stopped  us  at  particular  points,  to  look  back  for  the 
view,  and  gave  the  history  and  date  of  the  work  with 
its  surrounding  circumstances,  and  the  meaning  of 
every  word,  while  they  took  away  the  soul  of  the 
poem,  and  robbed  us  of  our  whole  impression.  We 
realize  now  that  by  reading  and  reading  again,  until 
they  have  mastered  the  music,  and  the  meaning  dawns 
of  itself,  children  gain  more  than  the  best  annota- 
tions can  give  them ;  these  will  be  wanted  later  on, 

10 


146        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

but  in  the  beginning  they  set  the  attitude  of  mind 
completely  wrong  for  early  literary  study  in  which 
reverence  and  receptiveness  and  delight  are  of  more 
account  than  criticism.  The  memory  of  these  things 
is  so  much  to  us  in  after  life,  and  if  the  living  forms 
of  beautiful  poems  have  been  torn  to  pieces  to  show 
us  the  structure  within,  and  the  matter  has  been 
shaken  out  into  ungainly  paraphrase  and  pursued 
with  relentless  analysis  until  it  has  given  up  the  last 
secret  of  its  meaning,  the  remembrance  of  this  de- 
structive process  will  remain  and  the  spirit  will  never 
be  the  same  again.  The  best  hope  for  beautiful 
memories  is  in  perfect  reading  aloud,  with  that  rever- 
ence of  mind  and  reticence  of  feeling  which  keeps 
itself  in  the  background,  not  imposing  a  marked  per- 
sonal interpretation,  but  holding  up  the  poem  with 
enough  support  to  make  it  speak  for  itself  and  no  more. 
There  is  a  vexed  question  about  the  reading  allowed 
to  girls  which  cannot  be  entirely  passed  over.  It  is  a 
point  on  which  authorities  differ  widely  among  them- 
selves, according  to  the  standard  of  their  family,  the 
whole  early  training  which  has  given  their  mind  a 
particular  bent,  the  quality  of  their  own  taste  and 
their  degree  of  sensitiveness  and  insight,  the  views 
which  they  hold  about  the  character  of  girls,  their 
ideas  of  the  world  and  the  probable  future  surround- 
ings of  those  whom  they  advise,  as  well  as  many 
other  considerations.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  arrive 
at  a  uniform  standard,  or  at  particular  precepts  or  at 
lists  of  books  or  authors  which  should  or  should  not 
be  allowed.  Even  if  these  could  be  drawn  up,  it 
would  be  more  and  more  difficult  to  enforce  them  or 


ENGLISH  147 

to  keep  the  rules  abreast  of  the  requirements  of  each 
publishing  season.  In  reading,  as  in  conduct,  each 
one  must  bear  more  and  more  of  their  own  personal 
responsibility,  and  unless  the  law  is  within  themselves 
there  is  no  possibility  of  enforcing  it. 

The  present  Archbishop  of  Westminster,  when 
rector  of  St.  John's  Seminary,  Wonersh,  used  to  lay 
down  the  following  rules  for  his  students,  and  on 
condition  of  their  adhering  to  these  rules  he  allowed 
them  great  freedom  in  their  reading,  but  if  they  were 
disregarded, .  it  was  understood  that  the  rector  took 
no  responsibility  about  the  books  they  read  : — 

1.  "Be  perfectly  conscientious,  and  if  you  find  a 
book  is  doing  you  harm  stop  reading  it  at  once.  If 
you  know  you  cannot  stop  you  must  be  most  careful 
not  to  read  anything  you  don't  know  about." 

2.  "Be  perfectly  frank  with  your  confessor  and 
other  superiors.  Don't  keep  anything  hidden  from 
them." 

3.  "  Don't  recommend  books  to  others  which,  al- 
though they  may  do  no  harm  to  you,  might  do  harm 
to  them." 

These  rules  are  very  short  but  they  call  for  a  great 
deal  of  self-control,  frankness,  and  discretion.  They 
set  up  an  inward  standard  for  the  conscience,  and,  if 
honestly  followed,  they  answer  in  practice  any  diffi- 
culty that  is  likely  to  arise  as  to  choice  of  reading.^ 

But  the  application  of  these  rules  presupposes  a 

'■  In  the  Appendix  will  be  found  a  pastoral  letter  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Westminster,  then  Bishop  of  Southwark,  bear- 
ing on  this  subjeot  and  full  of  instruction  for  all  who  have  to 
deal  with  it. 

10* 


148        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

degree  of  judgment  and  self-restraint  which  are  hardly 
to  be  found  in  girls  of  school-room  years,  and  before 
they  can  adjust  themselves  to  the  relative  standard  and 
use  the  curb  for  themselves,  it  is  necessary  to  set  be- 
fore them  some  fixed  rules  by  which  to  judge.  While 
life  is  young  and  character  plastic  and  personal 
valuations  still  in  formation,  the  difficulty  is  to  know 
what  is  harmful.  "  How  am  I  to  know,"  such  a 
one  may  ask,  "  whether  what  seems  harmful  to  me 
may  not  be  really  a  gain,  giving  me  a  richer  life,  a 
greater  expansion  of  spirit,  a  more  independent  and 
human  character  ?  May  not  this  effect  which  I  take 
to  be  harm,  be  no  more  than  necessary  growing  pains ; 
may  it  not  be  bringing  me  into  truer  relation  with 
life  as  it  is,  and  as  a  whole  ?  " 

There  will  always  be  on  one  side  timid  and  mediocre 
minds,  satisfied  to  shut  themselves  up  and  safeguard 
what  they  already  have ;  and  on  the  other  more  daring 
and  able  spirits  who  are  tempted  beyond  the  line  of 
safety  in  a  thirst  for  discovery  and  adventure,  and 
are  thus  swept  out  beyond  their  own  immature  con- 
trol. Books  that  foster  the  spirit  of  rebellion,  of 
doubt  and  discontent  concerning  the  essentials  and 
inevitable  elements  of  human  life,  that  tend  to  sap 
the  sense  of  personal  responsibility,  and  to  disparage 
the  cardinal  virtues  and  the  duty  of  self-restraint  as 
against  impulse,  are  emphatically  bad.  They  are 
particularly  bad  for  girls  with  their  impressionable 
minds  and  tendency  to  imitation,  and  inclination  to 
be  led  on  by  the  glamour  of  the  old  temptation, 
"  Your  eyes  shall  be  opened ;  you  shall  be  as  gods, 
knowing  good  and  evil  ". 


ENGLISH  149 

To  follow  a  doubt  or  a  lie  or  a  by-way  of  conduct 
with  the  curiosity  to  see  what  comes  of  it  in  the  end, 
is  to  prepare  their  own  minds  for  similar  lines  of 
thought  and  action,  and  in  the  crises  of  life,  when 
they  have  to  choose  for  themselves,  often  unadvised 
and  without  time  to  deliberate,  they  are  more  likely 
to  fall  by  the  doubt  or  the  lie  or  the  spirit  of  revolt 
which  has  become  familiar  to  them  in  thought  and 
sympathy. 


CHAPTEE  rX. 

MODEEN  LANGUAGES. 

"  All  nations  have  their  message  from  on  high, 
Each  the  messiah  of  some  central  thought, 
For  the  fulfilment  and  delight  of  Man  : 
One  has  to  teach  that  labour  is  divine  ; 
Another  Freedom  and  another  Mind  ; 
And  all,  that  God  is  open-eyed  and  just, 
The  happy  centre  and  calm  heart  of  all." 

James  Russell  Lowell. 

We  cannot  have  a  perfect  knowledge  even  of  our  ov^n 
language  without  some  acquaintance  with  more  than 
one  other,  either  classical  or  modern.  This  is  especi- 
ally true  of  English  because  it  has  drawn  its  strength 
and  wealth  from  so  many  sources,  and  absorbed 
them  into  itself.  But  this  value  is  usually  taken  in- 
directly, by  the  way,  and  the  understanding  of  it  only 
comes  to  us  after  years  as  an  appreciable  good.  It 
is,  however,  recognized  that  no  education  correspond- 
ing to  the  needs  of  our  own  time  can  be  perfected  or 
even  adequately  completed  in  one  language  alone. 
Not  only  do  the  actual  conditions  of  life  make  it  im- 
perative to  have  more  than  one  tongue  at  our  com- 
mand from  the  rapid  extension  of  facilities  for  travel- 
ling, and  increased  intercourse  with  other  nations; 
but  in  proportion  to  the  cooling  down  of  our  extreme 

150 


MODERN  LANGUAGES  151 

ardour  for  experimental  science  in  the  school-room 
we  are  returning  to  recognize  in  language  a  means 
of  education  more  adapted  to  prepare  children  for 
life,  by  fitting  them  for  intercourse  with  their  fellow- 
creatures  and  giving  them  some  appreciative  un- 
derstanding of  the  works  of  man's  mind.  Thus 
languages,  and  especially  modem  languages,  are  as- 
suming more  and  more  importance  in  the  education 
of  children,  not  only  v^th  us,  but  in  most  other 
countries  of  Europe.  In  some  of  them  the  methods 
are  distinctly  in  advance  of  ours. 

Much  has  been  written  of  late  years  in  the  course 
of  educational  discussions  as  to  the  value  of  classical 
studies  in  education.  As  the  best  authorities  are  not 
yet  in  agreement  among  themselves  it  would  be 
obviously  out  of  place  to  add  anything  here  on  the 
subject.  But  the  controversy  principally  belongs  to 
classics  in  boys'  schools ;  as  to  the  study  of  Latin  by 
girls  and  in  particular  to  its  position  in  Catholic 
schools,  there  is  perhaps  something  yet  to  be  said. 

In  non-Catholic  schools  for  girls  Latin  has  not, 
even  now,  a  great  hold.  It  is  studied  for  certain  ex- 
aminations, but  except  for  the  few  students  whose 
life  takes  a  professional  turn  it  scarcely  outlives  the 
school-room.  Girl  students  at  universities  cannot 
compete  on  equal  terms  with  men  in  a  classical 
course,  and  the  fact  is  very  generally  acknowledged 
by  their  choosing  another.  Except  in  the  rarest 
instances — let  us  not  be  afraid  to  own  it — our  Latin 
is  that  of  amateurs,  brilliant  amateurs  perhaps,  but 
unmistakable.  Latin,  for  girls,  is  a  source  of  de- 
light, a  beautiful  enrichment  of  their  mental  life,  most 


152        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

precious  in  itself  and  in  its  influence,  but  it  is  not  a 
living  power,  nor  a  familiar  instrument,  nor  a  great 
discipline ;  it  is  deficient  in  hardness  and  closeness  of 
grain,  so  that  it  cannot  take  polish ;  it  is  apt  to  betray 
by  unexpected  transgressions  the  want  of  that  long, 
detailed,  severe  training  which  alone  can  make 
classical  scholarship.  It  is  usually  a  little  tremulous, 
not  quite  sure  of  itself,  and  indeed  its  best  adorn- 
ment is  generally  the  sobriety  induced  by  an  over- 
shadowing sense  of  paternal  correction  and  solicitude 
always  present  to  check  rashness  and  desultoriness, 
and  make  it  at  least  "  gang  warily  "  with  a  finger  on 
its  lip ;  and  their  attainments  in  Latin  are,  at  the 
best,  receptively  rather  than  actively  of  value. 

In  Catholic  girls'  schools,  however,  the  elements  of 
Latin  are  almost  a  necessity.  It  is  wanting  in 
courtesy,  it  is  almost  uncouth  for  us  to  grow  up  with- 
out any  knowledge  of  the  language  of  Holy  Church. 
It  is  almost  impossible  for  educated  Catholics  to  have 
right  taste  in  devotion,  the  "  love  and  relish  "  of  the 
most  excellent  things,  without  some  knowledge  of  our 
great  liturgical  prayers  and  hymns  in  the  original. 
We  never  can  really  know  them  if  we  only  hear  them 
halting  and  plunging  and  splashing  through  transla- 
tions, wasting  their  strength  in  many  words  as  they 
must  unavoidably  do  in  English,  and  at  best  only 
reaching  an  approximation  to  the  sense.  The  use  of 
them  in  the  original  is  discipline  and  devotion  in  one, 
and  it  strengthens  the  Catholic  historical  hold  on  the 
past,  with  a  sense  of  nearness,  when  we  dwell  with 
some  understanding  on  the  very  words  which  have 
been  sung  in  the  Church  subsisting  in  all  ages  and 


MODERN  LANGUAGES  153 

teaching  all  nations.  This  is  our  birthright,  but  it  is 
not  truly  ours  unless  we  can  in  some  degree  make  use 
of  what  we  own. 

It  has  often  been  pointed  out  that  even  to  the  most 
uneducated  amongst  our  people  Latin  is  never  a  dead 
language  to  Catholics,  and  that  the  familiar  prayers 
at  Mass  and  public  devotions  make  them  at  home  in 
the  furthest  countries  of  the  earth  as  soon  as  they  are 
within  the  church  doors.  So  far  as  this,  it  is  a  uni- 
versal language  for  us,  and  even  if  it  went  no  further 
than  the  world-wide  home  feeling  of  the  poor  in  our 
churches  it  would  make  us  grateful  for  every  word  of 
Latin  that  has  a  familiar  sound  to  them,  and  this 
alone  might  make  us  anxious  to  teach  Catholic 
children  at  school,  for  the  use  of  prayer  and  devotion, 
as  much  Latin  as  they  can  learn  even  if  they  never 
touch  a  classic. 

Our  attitude  towards  the  study  of  modem  languages 
has  had  its  high  and  low  tides  within  the  last  century. 
We  have  had  our  submissive  and  our  obstinate  moods ; 
at  present  we  are  rather  well  and  aflEably  disposed. 
French  used  to  be  acknowledged  without  a  rival  as 
the  universal  language ;  it  was  a  necessity,  and  in 
general  the  older  generation  learned  it  carefully  and 
spoke  it  well.  At  that  time  Italian  was  learned  from 
taste  and  German  was  exceptional.  Queen  Victoria's 
German  marriage  and  all  the  close  connexion  that 
followed  from  it  pressed  the  study  of  German  to  the 
front ;  the  influence  of  Carlyle  told  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, and  the  study  of  Italian  declined.  Then  in  our 
enthusiasm  for  physical  sciences  for  a  time  we  read 
more  German,  but  not  German  of  the  best  quality, 


154        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

and  in  another  line  we  were  influenced  by  German 
literary  criticism.  Now  the  balance  of  things  has 
altered  again.  For  scholarship  and  criticism  German 
is  in  great  request ;  in  commercial  education  it  is 
being  ontrun  by  Spanish,  for  the  intercourse  of  ordin- 
ary life  Germans  are  learning  English  much  more 
eagerly  than  we  are  learning  German.  We  have  had 
a  fit  of — let  us  call  it — shyness.  But  we  are  trying  to 
do  better.  We  recognize  that  these  fits  of  shyness  are 
not  altogether  to  our  credit,  not  wholly  reasonable,  and 
that  we  are  not  incapable  of  learning  foreign  languages 
well.  We  know  the  story  of  the  little  boy  reprimanded 
by  the  magistrate  for  his  folly  in  running  away  from 
home  because  he  was  obliged  to  learn  French,  and 
his  haughty  reply  that  if  foreigners  wished  to  speak 
to  him  they  might  learn  his  language.  But  our 
children  have  outgrown  him,  as  to  his  declaration  if 
not  as  to  his  want  of  diligence,  and  we  are  in  general 
reforming  our  methods  of  teaching  so  much  that  it 
will  soon  be  inexcusable  not  to  speak  one  or  two 
languages  well,  besides  our  own. 

The  question  of  pronunciation  and  accent  has  been 
haunted  by  curious  prejudices.  An  English  accent  in 
a  foreign  tongue  has  been  for  some  speakers  a  refuge 
for  their  shyness,  and  for  others  a  stronghold  of  their 
patriotism.  The  first  of  these  feared  that  they  would 
not  be  truly  themselves  unless  their  personality  could 
take  shelter  beneath  an  accent  that  was  unmistakably 
from  England,  and  the  others  felt  that  it  was  like 
hauling  down  the  British  flag  to  renounce  the  long- 
drawn  English  "  A-o-o  ".  And,  curiously,  at  the 
other  extreme,   the  slightest  tinge  of   an   English 


MODERN  LANGUAGES  155 

accent  is  rather  liked  in  Paris,  perhaps  only  among 
those  touched  with  Anglomania.  But  now  we  ought 
to  be  able  to  acquire  whatever  accent  we  choose,  even 
when  living  far  away  from  every  instructor,  having 
the  gramophone  to  repeat  to  us  untiringly  the  true 
Spanish  "  manana  "  and  the  French  "  ennui  ".  And 
the  study  of  phonetics,  so  much  developed  within  the 
last  few  years  makes  it  unpardonable  for  teachers  of 
modern  languages  to  let  the  old  English  faults  pre- 
vail. 

We  have  had  our  succession  of  methods  too.  The 
old  method  of  learning  French,  with  a  bonne  in 
the  nursery  first,  and  then  a  severely  academic  gover- 
ness or  tutor,  produced  French  of  unsurpassed  quality- 
But  it  belonged  to  home  education,  it  required  a 
great  deal  of  leisure,  it  did  not  adapt  itself  to  school 
curricula  in  which  each  child,  to  use  the  expressive 
American  phrase,  "  carries  "  so  many  subjects  that  the 
hours  and  minutes  for  each  have  to  be  jealously  counted 
out.  There  have  been  a  series  of  methods  succeeding 
one  another  which  can  scarcely  be  called  more  than 
quack  methods  of  learning  languages,  claiming  to  be 
the  natural  method,  the  maternal  method,  the  only 
rational  method,  etc.  Educational  advertisements  of 
these  have  been  magnificent  in  their  promise,  but 
opinions  are  not  entirely  at  one  as  to  the  results. 

The  conclusions  which  suggest  themselves  after 
seeing  several  of  these  methods  at  work  are  : — 

1.  That  good  teachers  can  make  use  of  almost  any 
method  with  excellent  results  but  that  they  generally 
evolve  one  of  their  own. 

2.  That  if  the  teachers  and  the  children  take  a 


156        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

great  deal  of  trouble  the  progress  will  be  very  remark- 
able, whatever  method  is  employed,  and  that  without 
this  both  the  classical  and  the  "natural"  methods 
can  accomplish  very  little. 

3.  That  teachers  with  fixed  ideas  about  children 
and  about  methods  arrest  development. 

4.  That  the  self -instruction  courses  which  "  work 
out  at  a  penny  a  lesson  "  (the  lesson  lasts  ten  minutes 
and  is  especially  recommended  for  use  in  trams),  and 
the  gramophone  with  the  most  elaborate  records,  still 
bear  witness  to  the  old  doctrine  that  there  is  no  royal 
road  to  the  learning  of  languages,  and  that  it  is  not 
cheap  in  the  end.  In  proportion  to  the  value  we  set 
upon  perfect  acquirement  of  them  will  be  our  willing- 
ness to  spend  much  labour  upon  foundations.  By 
this  road  we  arrive  again  at  the  fundamentals  of  an 
educator's  calling,  love  and  labour. 

The  value  to  the  mind  of  acquiring  languages  is  so 
great  that  all  our  trouble  is  repaid.  It  is  not  utili- 
tarian value:  what  is  merely  for  usefulness  can  be 
easily  acquired,  it  has  very  little  beauty.  It  is  not 
for  the  sake  of  that  commonplace  usefulness  that  we 
should  care  to  spend  trouble  upon  permanent  founda- 
tions in  any  tongue.  The  mind  is  satisfied  only  by 
the  genius  of  the  language,  its  choicest  forms,  its 
characteristic  movement,  and,  most  of  all,  the  posses- 
sion of  its  hterature  from  within,  that  is  to  say  of 
the  spirit  as  it  speaks  to  its  own,  and  in  which  the 
language  is  most  completely  itself. 

The  special  fitness  of  modern  languages  in  a  girl's 
education  does  not  appear  on  the  surface,  and  it  re- 
quires more  than  a  superficial,  conversational  know- 


MODERN  LANGUAGES  157 

ledge  to  reap  the  fruit  of  their  study.  The  social,  and 
at  present  the  commercial  values  are  obvious  to  every 
one,  and  of  these  the  commercial  value  is  growing 
very  loud  in  its  assertions,  and  appears  very  exacting 
in  its  demands.  For  this  the  quack  methods  promise 
the  short  and  easy  way,  and  perhaps  they  are  sufifi- 
cient  for  it.  A  knowledge  sufficient  for  business  cor- 
respondence is  not  what  belongs  to  a  liberal  education; 
it  has  a  very  limited  range,  hard,  plain,  brief  com- 
munications, supported  on  cast-iron  frames,  inelastic 
forms  and  crudest  courtesies,  a  mere  formula  for  each 
particular  case,  and  a  small  vocabulary  suited  to  the 
dealings  of  every  branch  of  business.  We  know  the 
parallel  forms  of  correspondence  in  English,  which 
give  a  means  of  communication  but  not  properly  a 
language.  Even  the  social  values  of  languages  are 
less  than  they  used  to  be,  as  the  finer  art  of  con- 
versation has  declined.  A  little  goes  a  long  way; 
the  rush  of  the  motor  has  cut  it  short ;  there  is  not 
time  to  exchange  more  than  a  few  commonplaces, 
and  for  these  a  very  limited  number  of  words  is 
enough. 

But  let  our  girls  give  themselves  time,  or  let  time 
be  allowed  them,  to  give  a  year  or  two  to  the  real 
study  of  languages,  not  in  the  threadbare  phrases  of 
the  tourist  and  motorist,  nor  to  mere  drawing-room 
small  talk ;  not  with  **  matriculation  standard  "  as  an 
object,  but  to  read  the  best  that  has  been  written,  and 
try  to  speak  according  to  the  best  that  can  be  said 
now,  and  to  write  according  to  the  standard  of  what 
is  really  excellent  to-day ;  then  the  study  of  modern 
languages  is  lifted  quite  on  to  another  plane.     The 


158        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

particular  advantage  of  this  plane  is  that  there  is  a 
view  from  it,  w^ider  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
languages  known  and  to  the  grasp  that  is  acquired  of 
each,  and  the  particular  educational  gift  to  be  found 
there  is  width  of  sympathy  and  understanding.  De- 
fective sympathies,  national  and  racial  prejudices 
thrive  upon  a  lower  level.  The  elect  of  all  nations 
understand  one  another,  and  are  strangely  alike ;  the 
lower  we  go  down  in  the  various  grades  of  each 
nation  the  more  is  the  divergency  accentuated  between 
one  and  another.  Corresponding  to  this  is  mutual 
understanding  through  language ;  the  better  we 
possess  the  language  of  any  nation  the  closer  touch 
we  can  acquire  with  all  that  is  theirs,  with  their 
best. 

A  superficial  knowledge  of  languages  rather  accen- 
tuates than  removes  limitations,  multiplies  mistakes 
and  embitters  them.  With  a  half-knowledge  we 
misunderstand  each  other's  ideals,  we  lose  the  point 
of  the  best  things  that  are  said,  we  fail  to  catch  the 
aroma  of  the  spices  and  the  spirit  of  the  living  word ; 
in  fact,  we  are  mere  tourists  in  each  other's  mental 
world,  and  what  word  could  better  express  the  atti- 
tude of  mind  of  one  who  is  a  stranger,  but  not  a 
pilgrim,  a  tramp  of  a  rather  more  civilized  kind, 
having  neither  ties  nor  sympathies  nor  obligations, 
nothing  to  give,  and  more  inclined  to  take  than  to 
receive.  To  create  ties,  sympathies,  and  obligations 
in  the  mental  life,  is  a  grace  belonging  to  the  study  of 
languages,  and  makes  it  possible  to  give  and  receive 
hospitahty  on  the  best  terms  with  the  minds  of  those 
of  other  nations  than  our  own.     This  is  particularly 


MODERN  LANGUAGES  159 

a  gift  for  the  education  of  girls,  since  all  graces  of 
hospitality  ought  to  be  peculiarly  theirs.  To  lift  them 
above  prejudices,  to  make  them  love  other  beauties 
than  those  of  their  own  mental  kindred,  to  afford  them 
a  wider  possibility  of  giving  happiness  to  others,  and 
of  making  themselves  at  home  in  many  countries,  is 
to  give  them  a  power  over  the  conditions  of  life  which 
reaches  very  far  into  their  own  mental  well-being  and 
that  of  others,  and  makes  them  in  the  best  meaning 
of  the  word  cosmopolitan. 

The  choice  of  languages  to  be  learnt  must  depend 
upon  many  considerations,  but  the  widest  good  for 
English  girls,  though  not  the  most  easy  to  attain, 
is  to  give  them  perfect  French.  German  is  easier 
to  learn  from  its  kinship  with  our  own  language, 
but  its  grammar  is  of  less  educational  value  than 
French,  and  it  does  not  help  as  French  does  to  the 
acquirement  of  the  most  attractive  of  other  European 
languages. 

As  a  second  language,  however,  and  for  a  great  deal 
that  is  not  otherwise  attainable,  German  is  in  general 
the  best  that  can  be  chosen.  Italian  and  Spanish 
have  their  special  claims,  but  at  present  in  England 
their  appeal  is  not  to  the  many.  German  gives  the 
feeling  of  kindred  minds  near  to  us,  ourselves  yet 
not  ourselves ;  with  primitive  Teutonic  strength  and 
directness,  with  a  sweet  freshness  of  spring  in  its 
more  delicate  poetry,  and  both  of  these  elements 
blended  at  times  in  an  atmosphere  as  of  German 
forests  in  June.  In  some  writers  the  flicker  of  French 
brilliancy  illumines  the  depth  of  these  Teutonic  woods, 
producing  a  German  which,  in  spite  of  the  condem- 


160        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

nation  of  the  Emperor,  we  should  like  to  write  our- 
selves if  the  choice  were  offered  to  us. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  depth  and  strength  of 
German,  it  is  generally  agreed  that  as  an  instrument 
of  thought  French  prose  in  a  master-hand  is  unrivalled, 
by  its  subtlety  and  precision,  and  its  epigrammatic 
force.  Every  one  knows  and  laments  the  decadent 
style  which  is  eating  into  it ;  and  every  one  knows 
that  the  deplorable  tone  of  much  of  its  contemporary 
literature  makes  discernment  in  French  reading  a 
matter  not  only  of  education  but  of  conscience  and 
sanity ;  but  this  does  not  make  the  danger  to  be 
inherent  in  the  French  language ;  obliging  translators 
are  ready  to  furnish  us,  in  our  own  language  and  ac- 
cording to  taste,  with  the  very  worst  taken  from  every- 
where. And  these  faults  do  not  affect  the  beauty  of 
the  instrument,  nor  its  marvellous  aptitude  for  train- 
ing the  mind  to  precision  of  expression.  The  logical 
bent  of  the  French  mind,  its  love  of  rule,  the  elabor- 
ateness of  its  conventions  in  literature,  its  ceremonial 
observances  dating  from  by-gone  times,  the  custom 
of  giving  account  of  everything,  of  letting  no  nuance 
pass  unchallenged  or  uncommented,  have  given  it 
a  power  of  expression  and  definiteness  which  holds 
together  as  a  complete  code  of  written  and  unwritten 
laws,  and  makes  a  perfect  instrument  of  its  kind. 
But  the  very  completeness  of  it  has  seemed  to  some 
writers  a  fetter,  and  when  they  revolt  against  and 
break  through  it,  their  extravagance  passes  beyond 
all  ordinary  bounds.  French  represents  the  two  ex- 
tremes, unheard-of  goodness,  unequalled  perfection, 
or  indescribable  badness  and  unrestraint.      Unfor- 


MODERN  LANGUAGES  161 

tunately  the  unrestraint  is  making  its  way,  and  as 
with  ourselves  in  England,  the  magazine  literature  in 
France  grows  more  and  more  imdesirable. 

Yet  there  is  unlimited  room  for  reading,  and  for 
CathoUcs  a  great  choice  of  what  is  excellent.  The 
modern  manner  of  writing  the  lives  of  the  Saints 
has  been  very  successfully  cultivated  of  late  years  in 
France,  making  them  living  human  beings  "inter- 
esting as  fiction,"  to  use  an  accepted  standard  of 
measurement,  more  appealingly  credible  and  more 
imitable  than  those  older  works  in  which  they  walked 
remote  from  the  life  of  to-day,  angelic  rather  than 
human.  There  are  studies  in  criticism,  too,  and  essays 
in  practical  psychology  and  social  science,  which 
bring  within  the  scope  of  ordinary  readers  a  great 
deal  which  with  us  can  only  be  reached  over  rough 
roads  and  by-ways.  No  doubt  each  method  has  its 
advantages ;  the  laboriously  acquired  knowledge  be- 
comes more  completely  a  part  of  ourselves,  but  along 
the  metalled  way  it  is  obvious  that  we  cover  more 
ground. 

The  comparison  of  these  values  leads  to  the  prac- 
tical question  of  translations.  The  Italian  saying 
which  identifies  the  translator  with  the  traitor  ought 
to  give  way  to  a  more  grateful  and  hopeful  modern 
recognition  of  the  services  done  by  conscientious 
translations.  We  have  undoubtedly  suffered  in  Eng- 
land in  the  past  by  well-meaning  but  incompetent 
translators,  especially  of  spiritual  books,  who  have 
given  us  such  impressions  as  to  mislead  us  about 
the  minds  of  the  writers  or  even  turned  us  against 
them  altogether,  to  our  own  great   loss.     But  at 

11 


162        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

present  more  care  is  exercised,  and  conscientious 
critical  exactitude  in  translating  important  spiritual 
works  has  given  us  English  versions  that  are  not 
unworthy  of  their  originals.  ^ 

There  is  good  service  to  be  done  to  the  Church  in 
England  by  this  work  of  translation,  and  it  is  one  in 
which  grown-up  girls,  if  they  have  been  sufficiently 
trained,  might  give  valuable  help.  It  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  not  every  book  which  is  beautiful  or 
useful  in  its  own  language,  is  desirable  to  translate. 
Some  depend  so  much  upon  the  genius  of  the  lan- 
guage and  the  mentality  of  their  native  country  that 
they  simply  evaporate  in  translation ;  others  appeal 
so  markedly  to  national  points  of  view  that  they  seem 
anomalous  in  other  languages,  as  a  good  deal  of  our 
present-day  English  writing  would  appear  in  French. 
It  has  also  to  be  impressed  on  translators  that  their 
responsibility  is  great ;  that  it  takes  laborious  per- 
sistence to  make  a  really  good  translation,  doing 
justice  to  both  sides,  giving  the  spirit  of  the  author 
as  well  as  his  literal  meaning,  and  not  straining  the 
language  of  the  translation  into  unnatural  forms  to 
make  it  carry  a  sense  that  it  does  not  easily  bear. 

The  beauty  of  a  translator's  work  is  in  the  perfect 
accord  of  conscience  and  freedom,  and  this  is  not  at- 
tained without  unwearied  search  for  the  right  word, 
the  only  right  word  which  will  give  the  true  meaning 
and  the  true  expression  of  any  idea.  To  believe  that 
this  right  word  exists  is  one  of  the  delights  of  trans- 

^  An  example  of  this  is  the  late  Canon  Mackey's  edition  of  the 
complete  works  of  St.  Francis  of  Sales,  which  has,  unfortunately, 
to  be  completed  without  him. 


MODERN  LANGUAGES  163 

lating ;  to  be  a  lover  of  choice  and  beautiful  words  is 
an  attraction  in  itself,  leading  to  the  love  of  things 
more  beautiful  still,  the  love  of  truth,  and  fitness,  and 
transparency;  the  exercise  of  thought,  and  discrimina- 
tion, and  balance,  and  especially  of  a  quality  most  rare 
and  precious  in  women — mental  patience.  It  is  said 
that  we  excel  in  moral  patience,  but  that  when  we 
approach  anything  intellectual  this  enduring  virtue 
disappears,  and  we  must  "  reach  the  goal  in  a  bound 
or  never  arrive  there  at  all  ".  The  sustained  search 
for  the  perfect  word  would  do  much  to  correct  this 
impatience,  and  if  the  search  is  aided  by  a  knowledge 
of  several  modern  languages  so  that  comparative 
meanings  and  uses  may  be  balanced  against  one 
another,  it  will  be  found  not  only  to  open  rich  veins 
of  thought,  but  to  give  an  ever-increasing  power  of 
working  the  mines  and  extracting  the  gold. 


JX 


CHAPTEE  X. 

HISTORY. 

"  We  have  heard,  0  God,  with  our  ears  :  our  fathers  have  de- 
clared to  us, 

"  The  work  thou  hast  wrought  in  their  days,  and  in  the  days 
of  old." — Pealm  xun. 

"  Thus  independent  of  times  and  places,  the  Popes  have  never 
found  any  difficulty,  when  the  proper  moment  came,  of  followiag 
out  a  new  and  daring  line  of  policy  (as  their  astonished  foes 
have  called  it),  of  leaving  the  old  world  to  shift  for  itself  and  to 
disappear  from  the  scene  in  its  due  season,  and  of  fastening  on 
and  establishing  themselves  in  the  new. 

*'  I  am  led  to  this  line  of  thought  by  St.  Gregory's  behaviour  to 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  on  the  break-up  of  the  old  civilisation." — 
Cardinal  Newman,  "  Historical  Sketches,"  III,  "  A  Character- 
istic of  the  Popes  ". 

Of  the  so-called  secular  subjects  history  is  the  one 
which  depends  most  for  its  value  upon  the  honour  in 
which  it  is  held  and  upon  the  standpoint  from  which 
it  is  taught.  Not  that  history  can  be  truly  a  secular 
subject  if  it  is  taught  as  a  whole — isolated  periods  or 
subdivisions  may  be  separated  from  the  rest  and 
studied  in  a  purely  secular  spirit,  or  with  no  spirit 
at  all — for  the  animating  principle  is  not  in  the  sub- 
divided parts  but  in  the  whole,  and  only  if  it  is  taught 
as  a  whole  can  it  receive  the  honour  which  belongs 
to  it  as  the  **  study  of  kings,"  the  school  of  experience 

164 


HISTORY  165 

and  judgment,  and  one  of  the  greatest   teachers  of 
truth. 

In  modern  times,  since  the  fall  of  the  Western 
Empire,  European  history  has  centred,  whether  for 
love  or  for  hatred,  round  the  Church ;  and  it  is  thus 
that  Catholic  education  comes  to  its  own  in  this 
study,  and  the  Catholic  mind  is  more  at  home  among 
the  phenomena  and  problems  of  history  than  other 
minds  for  whom  the  ages  of  faith  are  only  vaults  of 
superstition,  or  periods  of  mental  servitude,  or  at  best, 
ages  of  high  romance.  Without  the  Church  what 
are  the  ideals  of  the  Crusades,  of  the  Holy  Eoman 
Empire,  of  the  religious  spirit  of  chivalry,  or  the 
struggle  concerning  Investitures,  the  temporal  power 
of  the  Popes  and  their  temporal  sovereignty,  the 
misery  of  the  "Babylonian  Captivity,"  the  develop- 
ment of  the  religious  orders — in  contemporary  history 
— the  ItaHan  question  during  the  last  fifty  years,  or 
the  present  position  of  the  Church  in  France  ?  These 
are  incomprehensible  phenomena  without  the  Church 
to  give  the  key  to  the  controversies  and  meaning  to 
the  ideals.  Without  knowing  the  Catholic  Church 
from  within,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  all  these 
things  as  realities  affecting  conscience  and  the  pur- 
pose and  direction  of  life ;  their  significance  is  lost  if 
they  have  to  be  explained  as  the  mere  human  struggle 
for  supremacy  of  persons  or  classes,  mere  ecclesiasti- 
cal disputes,  or  dreams  of  imperialism  in  Church 
matters.  Take  away  the  Church  and  try  to  draw 
up  a  course  of  lessons  satisfactory  to  the  minds  even 
of  girls  under  eighteen,  and  at  every  turn  a  thought- 
ful question  may  be  critical,  and  the  explanations  in 


166        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

the   hands  of  a  non-Catholic   teacher  scarcely  less 
futile  than  the  efforts  of  old  Kaspar  to  satisfy  "  young 
Peterkin  "  about  the  battle  of  Blenheim. 
What  about  Investitures  ? 

"  Now  tell  U3  all  about  the  war, 

And  what  they  fought  each  other  for  ?" 

What  about  Canossa  ? 

"  What  they  fought  each  other  for, 
I  could  not  well  make  out. 
But  everybody  said  "  quoth  he, 
"  That  'twas  a  famous  victory." 

What  about  Mentana  or  Castel-Fidardo  ? 
"  What  good  came  of  it  at  last  ?  " 
Quoth  little  Peterkin. 
"  Why  that  I  cannot  tell,"  said  he, 
"  But  'twas  a  famous  victory." 

The  difficulty  is  tacitly  acknowledged  by  the  rare 
appearance  of  European  history  in  the  curriculum 
for  non-Catholic  girls'  schools.  But  in  any  school 
where  the  studies  are  set  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  examinations,  the  teaching  of  history  is  of  necessity 
dethroned  from  the  place  which  belongs  to  it  by  right. 
History  deserves  a  position  that  is  central  and  com- 
manding, a  scheme  that  is  impressive  when  seen  as 
a  whole  in  retrospect,  it  deserves  to  be  taught  from 
a  point  of  view  which  has  not  to  be  reconsidered  in 
later  years,  and  this  is  to  be  found  with  all  the  stabihty 
possible,  and  with  every  facility  for  later  extension  in 
the  natural  arrangement  of  all  modern  history  round 
the  history  of  the  Church. 

During  the  great  development  which  has  taken  place 
in  the  study  of  history  within  the  last  century,  and 


HISTORY  167 

especially  within  the  last  fifty  years,  the  mass  of 
materials  has  grown  so  enormous  and  the  list  of 
authors  of  eminence  so  imposing  that  one  might  al- 
most despair  of  adapting  the  subject  in  any  way  to  a 
child's  world  if  it  were  not  for  this  central  point  of 
view,  in  which  the  Incarnation  and  the  Church  are 
the  controlling  facts  dominating  all  others  and  giv- 
ing them  their  due  place  and  proportion.  On  this 
commanding  point  of  observation  the  child  and  the 
historian  may  stand  side  by  side,  each  seeing  truth 
according  to  their  capacity,  and  if  the  child  should 
grow  into  a  historian  it  would  be  with  an  unbroken 
development — there  would  not  be  anything  to  unlearn. 
The  method  of  "concentric"  teaching  against  which 
there  is  so  much  to  be  said  when  applied  to  national 
history  or  to  other  branches  of  teaching  is  entirely 
appropriate  here,  because  no  wider  vision  of  the  world 
can  be  attained  than  from  the  point  whence  the 
Church  views  it,  in  her  warfare  to  make  the  king- 
doms of  the  world  become  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
His  Christ  that  He  may  reign  for  ever  and  ever. 
The  Church  beholds  the  rational  not  the  sensible 
horizon  of  history,  and  standing  at  her  point  of  view, 
the  great  ones  and  the  little  ones  of  the  earth,  his- 
torians and  children,  can  look  at  the  same  heavens, 
one  with  the  scientific  instruments  of  his  observatory, 
the  other  with  the  naked  eye  of  a  child's  faith  and 
understanding. 

But  the  teaching  of  history  as  it  has  been  carried 
on  for  some  years,  would  have  to  travel  a  long  way  to 
arrive  at  this  central  point  of  view.  As  an  educa- 
tional subject  a  great  deal  has  been  done  to  destroy 


168       THE  EDUCATION  OP  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

its  value,  by  what  was  intended  to  give  it  assistance 
and  stimulus.  The  history  syllabus  and  requirements 
for  University  Local  and  other  examinations  have 
produced  specially  adapted  text-books,  in  which  facts 
and  summaries  have  been  arranged  in  order  with 
wonderful  care  and  forethought,  to  "  meet  all  require- 
ments " ;  but  the  kind  intention  with  which  every 
possible  need  has  been  foreseen  between  the  covers 
of  one  text-book  has  defeated  its  own  purpose,  the 
living  thing  is  no  longer  there — its  skeleton  remains, 
and  after  handling  the  dry  bones  and  putting  them 
in  order  and  giving  an  account  of  them  to  the  ex- 
amining body,  the  children  escape  with  relief  to  some- 
thing more  real,  to  the  people  of  fiction  who,  however 
impossible  to  believe  in,  are  at  least  flesh  and  blood, 
and  have  some  points  of  contact  with  their  own 
lives.  "  Of  course  as  we  go  up  for  examinations 
here,"  wrote  a  child  from  a  new  school,  "we  only 
learn  the  summaries  and  genealogies  of  history  and 
other  subjects."  A  sidelight  on  the  fruit  of  such  a 
plan  is  often  cast  in  the  appreciations  of  its  pupils. 
"Did  you  like  history?"  "No  I  hated  it,  I  can't 
bear  names  and  dates."  *'  What  did  you  think  of  so 
and  so?"  "He  wasn't  in  my  period."  So  history 
has  become  names  and  dates,  genealogies  and  sum- 
maries, hard  pebbles  instead  of  bread.  It  is  unfair 
to  children  thus  to  prejudice  them  against  a  subject 
which  thrills  with  human  interest,  and  touches  human 
life  at  every  turn,  it  is  unfair  to  history  to  present  it 
thus,  it  is  misleading  to  give  development  to  a  particu- 
lar period  without  any  general  scheme  against  which 
it  may  show  in  due  proportion,  as  misleading  as  the 


HISTORY  109 

old  picture-books  for  children  in  which  the  bat  on  one 
page  and  the  man  on  the  other  were  of  the  same  size. 

There  must  necessarily  be  a  principle  of  selection, 
but  one  of  the  elements  to  be  considered  in  making 
choice  ought  always  to  be  that  of  proportion  and  of 
fitness  in  adaptation  to  a  general  scheme.  It  was 
pointed  out  by  Sir  Joshua  Fitch  in  his  "  Lessons  on 
Teaching  "  (an  old-fashioned  book  now,  since  it  was 
published  before  the  deluge  of  "Pedagogics,"  but  still 
valuable)  that  an  ideal  plan  of  teaching  history  to 
children  might  be  found  in  the  historical  books  of 
Holy  Scripture,  and  in  practice  the  idea  is  useful, 
suggesting  that  one  aim  should  be  kept  in  view,  that 
at  times  the  guiding  line  should  contract  to  a  mere 
clew  of  direction,  and  at  others  expand  into  very  full 
and  vivid  narrative  chiefly  in  biographical  form.  The 
principle  may  be  applied  in  the  teaching  of  any  his- 
tory that  may  be  given  to  children,  that  is  to  say,  in 
general,  to  Sacred  history  which  has  its  own  place  in 
connexion  with  religious  teaching,  to  ancient  history 
within  very  small  limits,  to  Greek  and  Eoman  history 
in  such  proportion  as  the  years  of  education  may 
allow,  and  to  the  two  most  prominent  and  most 
necessary  for  children,  the  history  of  their  own 
country  and  that  of  modern  Europe  directed  along 
the  lines  of  the  history  of  the  Church. 

There  are  periods  and  degrees  of  development  in 
the  minds  of  children  to  which  correspond  different 
manners  of  teaching  and  even  different  objects,  as  we 
make  appeal  to  one  or  other  of  the  growing  faculties. 
The  first  stage  is  imaginative,  the  second  calls  not 
only  upon  the  imagination  and  memory  but  upon  the 


170        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

understanding,  and  the  third,  which  is  the  beginning 
of  a  period  of  fruition,  begins  to  exercise  the  judgment, 
and  to  give  some  ideas  concerning  principles  of  re- 
search and  criticism. 

The  first  is  the  period  of  romance,  when  by  means 
of  the  best  myths  of  many  nations,  from  their  heroic 
legends  and  later  stories,  the  minds  of  children  are 
turned  to  what  is  high  and  beautiful  in  the  traditions 
of  the  past,  and  they  learn  those  truths  concerning 
human  Hfe  and  destiny  which  transcend  the  more  lim- 
ited truths  of  literal  records  of  fact.  In  the  beginning 
they  are,  to  children,  only  stories,  but  we  know  our- 
selves that  we  can  never  exhaust  the  value  of  what 
came  to  us  through  the  story  of  the  wanderings  of 
Ulysses,  or  the  mysterious  beauty  of  the  Northern  and 
Western  myths,  as  the  story  of  Balder  or  the  children 
of  Lir.  The  art  of  telling  stories  is  beginning  to  be 
taught  with  wonderful  power  and  beauty,  the  story- 
teller is  turning  into  the  pioneer  of  the  historian, 
coming  in  advance  to  occupy  the  land,  so  that  history 
may  have  "  staked  out  a  claim  "  before  the  examining 
bodies  can  arrive,  in  the  dry  season,  to  tread  down 
the  young  growth. 

The  second  period  makes  appeal  to  the  intelligence, 
as  well  as  to  the  imagination,  and  to  this  stage  be- 
longs particularly  the  study  of  the  national  history, 
the  history  of  their  own  race  and  country ;  for  English 
girls  the  history  of  England,  not  yet  constitutional 
history,  but  the  history  of  the  Constitution  with  that 
of  the  kings  and  people,  and  further  the  history  of 
the  Empire.  To  this  period  of  education  belong  the 
great  lessons  of  loyalty  and  patriotism,  that  piety  to- 


HISTORY  171 

wards  our  own  country  which  is  so  much  on  the  de- 
cline as  the  home  tie  grows  feebler.  We  do  not  want 
to  teach  the  narrow  patriotism  which  only  finds  ex- 
pression in  antagonism  to  and  disparagement  of  other 
countries,  but  that  which  is  shown  by  self-denial  and 
self-sacrifice  for  the  good  of  our  own.  The  time  to 
teach  it  is  in  that  unsettled  "middle  age"  of  child- 
hood when  its  exuberant  feeling  is  in  search  of  an 
ideal,  when  large  moral  effects  can  be  appreciated, 
when  there  is  some  opening  understanding  of  the 
value  of  character. 

If  the  first  period  of  childhood  delights  in  what  is 
strange,  this  second  period  gives  its  allegiance  to  what 
is  strong,  by  preference  to  primitive  and  simple 
strength,  to  uncomplex  aims  and  marked  characters  ; 
it  appreciates  courage  and  endurance,  and  can  bear 
to  hear  of  sufferings  which  daunt  the  fastidiousness 
of  those  who  are  a  few  years  older ;  perhaps  it  can 
endure  so  much  because  it  realizes  so  little,  but  the 
fact  remains  true.  This  age  exults  in  the  sufferings 
of  the  martyrs  and  cannot  bear  the  suggestion  that 
plain  duties  may  be  heroic  before  God.  There  is  a 
great  deal  that  may  be  done  for  minds  in  this  period 
of  development  by  the  teaching  of  history  if  it  is  not 
crippled  in  its  programme.  To  make  concrete  their 
ideals  of  greatness  in  the  right  personalities — a  work 
which  is  as  easily  spoiled  by  a  word  out  of  season  as 
a  fine  porcelain  vase  is  cracked  in  a  furnace — to  direct 
their  ideas  of  the  aims  of  life  towards  worthy  and 
unselfish  ends,  to  foster  true  loyalty  because  of  God 
from  whom  all  authority  comes — and  this  lesson  has 
its  pathetic  poignancy  for  us  in  the  history  of  our 


172        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIKLS 

English  martyrs — to  show  the  claims  that  our  country 
has  upon  the  devotion  of  its  sons  and  daughters,  and 
to  inspire  some  feeling  of  responsibility  for  its  honour, 
especially  to  show  the  supreme  worth  of  character 
and  self-sacrifice,  all  these  things  may  and  must  be 
taught  in  this  middle  period  of  children's  education 
if  they  are  to  have  any  strong  hold  upon  them  in  after 
life.  It  is  a  stubborn  age  in  which  teaching  has  to 
be  on  strong  lines  and  deep  ones ;  when  the  evolution 
of  character  is  in  the  critical  period  that  is  to  make 
or  mar  its  future,  it  needs  a  strong  hand  over  it,  with 
power  both  to  control  and  to  support,  a  strong  mind 
to  command  its  respect,  strong  convictions  to  impress 
it,  and  strong  principles  on  which  to  test  its  own 
young  strength;  and  all  those  who  have  the  privi- 
lege of  teaching  history  to  children  of  this  age  have 
an  incomparable  opportunity  of  training  mind  and 
character.  The  strength  of  our  own  convictions,  the 
brightness  of  our  own  ideals,  the  fibre  of  our  patri- 
otism and  loyalty  will  tell  in  the  measure  of  two  en- 
dowments, our  own  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  our 
tact.  Children  will  detect  the  least  false  note  if  self- 
sacrifice  is  preached  without  experimental  knowledge ; 
and  as  it  is  the  most  contradictory  of  all  ages,  it  takes 
every  resource  of  tact  to  pilot  it  through  channels  for 
which  there  is  no  chart.  The  masterpieces  of  edu- 
cators are  wrought  in  this  difficult  but  most  interesting 
material. 

Those  who  come  after  them  will  see  what  they 
have  done,  they  cannot  see  it  themselves.  With  less 
difficulty  perhaps,  because  reason  is  more  developed 
and  the  hot-headed  and  irritable  phase  of  character 


HISTORY  173 

is  passing  away,  they  will  be  able  to  apply  the  prin- 
ciples which  have  been  laid  down.  With  less  diffi- 
culty, that  is  to  say  against  less  resistance,  but  not 
with  less  responsibility  or  even  with  less  anxiety.  For 
the  nearer  the  work  approaches  to  its  completion  and 
the  more  perfectly  it  has  been  begun,  the  more  deeply 
must  anyone  approaching  to  lay  hand  upon  it  feel  the 
need  for  great  reverence,  and  self-restraint,  and  pati- 
ence, and  vigilance,  not  to  spoil  by  careless  interference 
that  which  is  ready  to  receive  and  to  give  all  that  is 
best  in  youth,  not  to  be  unworthy  of  the  confidence 
which  a  young  mind  is  willing  to  place  in  its  guidance. 

For  although  so  much  stress  is  laid  upon  the  im- 
pressionability of  first  childhood  and  the  inejBfaceable 
marks  that  are  engraven  on  it,  yet  as  to  all  that  be- 
longs to  the  mind  and  judgment  this  third  period, 
in  the  early  years  of  adolescence,  is  more  sensitive 
still,  because  real  criticism  is  just  beginning  to  be 
possible  and  appreciation  is  in  its  spring-tide,  now  for 
the  first  time  fully  ahve  and  awake.  A  transition  line 
has  been  passed,  and  the  study  of  history,  like  every- 
thing else,  enters  upon  a  new  phase.  The  elementary 
teaching  which  has  been  sufficient  up  to  this,  which 
has  in  fact  been  the  only  possible  teaching,  must 
widen  out  in  the  third  period,  and  the  relative  im- 
portance of  aims  is  the  line  on  which  the  change  to 
more  advanced  teaching  is  felt. 

The  exercise  of  judgment  becomes  the  chief  object, 
and  to  direct  this  aright  is  the  principal  duty  of  those 
who  teach  at  this  age.  It  is  not  easy  to  give  a  right 
discernment  and  true  views.  To  begin  with  one  must 
have  them  oneself,  and  be  able  to  support  them  with 


174        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

facts  and  arguments,  they  must  have  the  weight  of 
patient  work  behind  them,  and  have  settled  themselves 
deeply  in  the  mind ;  opinions  freshly  gathered  that 
very  day  from  an  article  or  an  essay  are  attractive  and 
interesting  and  they  appeal  very  strongly  to  young 
minds  looking  out  for  theories  and  clews.  But  they 
only  give  superficial  help ;  in  general  essay- writers 
and  journalists  do  not  expect  to  be  taken  too  seriously, 
they  intend  to  be  suggestive  rather  than  convincing, 
and  it  is  a  great  matter  to  have  the  principle  under- 
stood by  girls,  that  it  is  not  to  the  journalists  that 
they  must  look  for  the  last  word  in  a  controversy,  nor 
for  a  permanent  presentment  of  contemporary  history. 
Again  it  is  necessary  to  remember  the  wayward- 
ness of  girls'  minds,  and  that  it  is  conviction,  not  sub- 
mission of  views  that  we  must  aim  at.  A  show  of 
authority  is  out  of  place,  the  tone  that  **  you  must 
think  as  I  do,"  tends  without  any  bad  will  on  the 
part  of  children  to  exasperate  them  and  rouse  the 
spirit  of  opposition,  whereas  a  patient  and  even  defer- 
ential hearing  of  their  views  and  admission  of  their 
difficulties  ensures  at  least  a  mind  free  from  irritation 
and  impatience,  to  listen  and  to  take  into  account 
what  we  have  to  say.  They  are  not  to  be  blamed 
for  having  difficulties  in  accepting  what  we  put  before 
them ;  on  the  contrary  we  must  welcome  their  in- 
dependent thought  even  if  it  seems  aggressive  and 
conceited ;  their  positive  assurance  that  they  see  to 
the  end  of  things  is  characteristic  of  their  age,  but 
it  is  better  that  they  should  show  themselves  thus, 
than  through  want  of  thought  or  courage  fall  in  with 
everything  that  is  set  before  them,  or,  worse  still, 


HISTORY  176 

take  that  pose  of  impartiality  which  allows  no  views 
at  all,  and  in  the  end  obliterates  the  line  between 
right  and  wrong.  The  too  submissive  minds  which 
give  no  trouble  now,  are  laying  it  all  up  for  the  future. 
They  accept  what  we  tell  them  without  opposition, 
others  will  come  later  on,  telling  them  something 
different,  and  they  will  accept  it  in  the  same  way, 
and  correct  their  views  day  by  day  to  the  readings  of 
the  daily  paper,  or  of  the  vogue  of  their  own  particular 
set.  These  are  the  minds  which  in  the  end  are  ab- 
sorbed by  the  world.  The  Church  receives  neither 
love  nor  service  from  them. 

Judgment  may  be  passed  upon  actions  as  right  or 
wrong  in  themselves,  or  as  practically  adapting  means 
to  end ;  the  first  is  of  great  interest  even  to  young 
children,  but  for  them  it  is  all  black  or  white,  and 
characters  are  to  them  entirely  good  or  entirely 
bad,  deserving  of  unmixed  admiration  or  of  their 
most  excellent  hatred,  which  they  pour  out  simply 
and  vehemently,  rejoicing  without  qualms  of  pity 
when  punishment  overtakes  the  wrongdoer  and  re- 
tributive justice  is  done  to  the  wicked.  This  is  per- 
haps what  makes  them  seem  bloodthirsty  in  their 
vengeance ;  they  feel  that  so  it  ought  to  be,  ajid  that 
the  affirmation  of  principle  is  of  more  account  than 
the  individual.  They  detest  half -measures  and  com- 
promise. For  the  elder  girls  it  is  not  so  simple,  and 
the  nearer  they  come  to  our  own  times  the  more 
necessary  is  it  to  put  before  them  that  good  is  not 
always  unaccompanied  by  evil  nor  evil  by  good. 

In  the  last  two  or  three  years  of  a  girl's  education 
all  the  time  that  can  be  spared  may  be  most  profit- 


176        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

ably  spent  on  the  study  of  modern  history,  since  it  is 
there  that  the  more  complex  problems  are  found,  and 
there  also  that  they  will  understand  how  contempor- 
ary questions  have  their  springs  in  the  past,  and  see 
the  rise  of  the  forces  which  are  at  work  now,  disin- 
tegrating the  nations  of  Europe  and  shaking  the 
foundations  of  every  government.  There  are  grave 
lessons  to  be  learnt,  not  in  gloomy  or  threatening 
forecasts  but  in  showing  the  direction  of  cause  and 
e£fect  and  the  renewal  of  the  same  struggle  which 
has  been  from  the  beginning,  in  ever  fresh  phases. 
The  outcome  of  historical  teaching  to  Catholics  can 
never  be  discouragement  or  depression,  whatever  the 
forecast.  The  past  gives  confidence,  and,  when  the 
glories  of  by-gone  ages  are  weighed  against  their 
troubles,  and  the  Church's  troubles  now  against  her 
inward  strength  and  her  new  horizons  of  hope,  there 
is  great  reason  for  gratitude  that  we  live  in  our  own 
much-abused  time.  In  every  age  the  Church  has, 
with  her  roots  in  the  past,  some  buds  and  blossoms  in 
the  present  and  some  fruit  coming  on  for  the  future. 
Hailstorms  may  cut  off  both  blossoms  and  fruit,  but 
all  will  not  be  lost.  We  can  always  hold  up  our 
heads  ;  there  are  buds  on  the  fig-tree  and  we  know  in 
whom  we  have  believed. 

In  bringing  home  to  children  these  grounds  for 
thankfulness,  the  quality  of  one's  own  mind  and  views 
tells  very  strongly,  and  this  leads  to  the  consideration 
of  what  is  chiefly  required  in  teaching  history  to 
children,  and  to  girls  growing  up.  The  first  and 
most  essential  point  is  that  we  ourselves  should  care 
about  what  we  teach,  not  that  we  should  merely  like 


HISTORY  m 

histoiy  as  a  school  subject  but  that  it  should  be  real 
to  us,  that  we  should  feel  something  about  it,  joy  or 
triumph  or  indignation,  things  which  are  not  found 
in  text-books,  and  we  should  beheve  that  it  all 
matters  very  much  to  the  children  and  to  ourselves. 
Lessons  of  the  text-book  type,  facts,  dates,  summaries, 
and  synopses  matter  very  little  to  children,  but  people 
are  of  great  importance,  and  if  they  grasp  what 
often  they  only  half  believe,  that  what  they  are  re- 
peating as  a  mere  lesson  really  took  place  among 
people  who  saw  and  felt  it  as  vividly  as^  they  would 
themselves,  then  their  S3rmpathies  and  understanding 
are  carried  beyond  the  bounds  of  their  school-rooms 
and  respond  to  the  touch  of  the  great  doings  and 
Bufferings  of  the  ra,ce. 

It  is  above  all  in  the  history  of  the  Church  that 
this  sympathetic  understanding  becomes  real.  The 
interest  of  olden  times  in  secular  history  is  more 
dramatic  and  picturesque  than  real  to  children ;  but 
in  the  history  of  the  Church  and  especially  of  the 
personalities  of  the  popes  the  continuity  of  her  life 
is  very  keenly  felt ;  the  popes  are  all  of  to-day,  they 
transcend  the  boundaries  of  their  times  because  in  a 
number  of  ways  they  did  and  had  to  do  and  bear  the 
very  same  things  that  are  done  and  have  to  be  borne 
by  the  popes  of  our  own  day.  If  we  give  to  girls 
some  vivid  realization,  say,  of  the  troubled  Pontificate 
of  Boniface  "VIII,  with  the  violence  and  tragedy  and 
pathos  in  which  it  ended,  after  the  dust  and  jarring 
and  weariness  of  battle  in  which  it  was  spent ;  if  they 
have  entered  into  something  of  the  anguish  of  Pius 

VII,  they  will  more  fully  understand  and  feel  deeper 

12 


178        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

love  and  sympathy  for  the  living,  suffering  successor 
now  in  the  same  chair,  in  another  phase  of  the  same 
conflict,  with  the  Gentiles  and  peoples  of  the  rising 
democracies  taking  counsel  together  against  him,  as 
kings  and  rulers  did  in  the  past,  all  imagining  the 
same  "vain  thing,"  that  they  can  overcome  Christ 
and  His  Vicar. 

Besides  this  living  sympathy  with  what  we  teach, 
we  must  be  able  to  speak  truth  without  being  afraid 
of  its  consequences.  There  was  at  one  time  a  fear 
in  the  minds  of  Catholic  teachers  that  by  admitting 
that  any  of  the  popes  had  been  unworthy  of  their 
charge,  or  that  there  had  ever  been  abuses  which 
called  for  reforms  among  clergy  and  religious  and 
CathoHc  laity,  they  would  be  giving  away  the  case 
for  the  Church  and  imperilling  the  faith  and  loyalty 
of  children ;  that  it  was  better  they  should  only  hear 
these  things  later,  with  the  hope  that  they  would 
never  hear  them  at  all.  The  real  peril  is  in  the 
course  thus  adopted.  Surrounded  as  we  are  by  non- 
CathoHcs,  and  in  a  time  when  no  Catholic  escapes 
from  questions  and  attacks,  open  or  covert,  upon 
what  we  beheve,  the  greatest  injustice  to  the  girls 
themselves,  and  to  the  honour  of  the  faith,  was  to 
send  them  out  unarmed  against  what  they  must 
necessarily  meet.  The  first  challenge  would  be  met 
with  a  flat  denial  of  facts,  loyal-heartedly  and  con- 
fidently given;  then  would  come  a  suspicion  that 
there  might  be  something  in  it,  the  inquiry  which 
would  show  that  this  was  really  the  case ;  then  a  cer- 
tain right  indignation,  "Why  was  I  not  told  the 
truth?"  and  a  sense  of  insecurity  vaguely  disturbing 


HISTORY  179 

the  foundations  which  ought  to  be  on  immovable 
bed-rock.  At  the  best,  such  an  experience  produces 
what  builders  call  a  "settlement,"  not  dangerous  to 
the  fabric  but  unsightly  in  its  consequences ;  it  may, 
however,  go  much  further,  first  to  shake  and  then  to 
loosen  the  whole  spiritual  building  by  the  insinuation 
of  doubt  everywhere.  It  is  impossible  to  forewarn 
children  against  all  the  charges  which  they  may  hear 
against  the  Church,  but  two  points  well  estabhshed 
in  their  minds  will  give  them  confidence. 

1.  That  the  evidence  which  is  brought  to  light 
year  after  year  from  access  to  State  papers  and  docu- 
ments tells  on  the  side  of  the  Church,  as  we  say  in 
England,  of  "the  old  religion,"  and  not  against  it. 
Books  by  non-Cathohcs  are  more  convincing  than 
others  in  this  matter,  since  they  are  free  from  the 
suspicion  of  partisanship ;  for  instance,  Gairdner's 
"  LoUardy  and  Eeformation  "  which  disposes  of  many 
mythical  monsters  of  Protestant  history. 

2.  That  even  if  the  facts  were  still  more  authentic 
to  justify  personal  attacks  on  some  of  the  popes,  even 
if  the  abuses  in  the  Church  had  not  been  grossly 
exaggerated,  even  putting  facts  at  their  worst,  grant- 
ing all  that  is  assumed,  it  tends  to  strengthen  faith 
rather  than  to  undermine  it,  for  the  existence  of  the 
Church  and  the  Papacy  as  they  are  to-day  is  a  wonder 
only  enhanced  by  every  proof  that  it  ought  to  have 
perished  long  ago  according  to  all  human  probability. 
With  that  confidence  and  assurance  even  our  little 
girls  may  hold  their  heads  high,  with  their  faith  and 
trust  in  the  Church  quite  unabashed,  and  wait  for  an 

answer  if  they  cannot  give  it  to  others  or  to  themselves 

12* 


180        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

at  the  moment.  "We  have  no  occasion  to  answer 
thee  concerning  this  matter,"  said  the  three  holy  chil- 
dren to  Nabuchodonosor,  and  so  may  om:  own  children 
say  if  they  are  hard  pressed,  "your  charges  do  but 
confirm  our  faith,  we  have  no  occasion  to  answer". 

It  is  impossible  to  leave  so  great  a  subject  as  his- 
tory without  saying  a  word  on  the  manner  of  teach- 
ing it  (for  in  this  a  manner  is  needed  rather  than 
a  method),  when  it  is  emancipated  from  the  fetters 
of  prescribed  periods  and  programmes  which  attach 
it  entirely  to  text-books.  Text-books  are  not  useless 
but  they  are  very  hard  to  find,  and  many  Catholic 
text-books,  much  to  be  desired,  are  still  unwritten, 
especially  in  England.  America  has  made  more  effort 
in  this  direction  than  we.  But  the  strength  of 
historical  teaching  for  children  and  girls  at  school 
lies  in  oral  lessons,  and  of  these  it  would  seem  that 
the  most  effective  form  is  not  the  conversational  lesson 
which  is  so  valuable  in  other  subjects,  nor  the  formal 
lesson  with  "  steps,"  but  the  form  of  a  story  for  little 
ones ;  for  older  children  the  narrative  leading  up  to  a 
point  of  view,  with  conversational  intervals,  and  en- 
couragement for  thoughtful  questions,  especially  at  the 
end  of  the  lesson;  and  in  the  last  years  an  informal  kind 
of  lecture,  a  transition  from  school-room  methods  to 
the  style  of  formal  lectures  which  maybe  attended  later 

Lessons  in  history  are  often  spoiled  by  futile 
questions  put  in  as  it  were  for  conscience'  sake,  to 
satisfy  the  obhgation  of  questioning,  or  to  rouse  the 
flagging  attention  of  a  child,  but  this  is  too  great  a 
sacrifice.  It  is  artistically  a  fault  to  jar  the  whole 
movement  of  a  good  narrative  for  the  sake  of  running 


HISTORY  181 

after  one  truant  mind.  It  is  also  artistically  wrong 
and  jarring  to  go  abruptly  from  the  climax  of  a 
story,  or  narrative,  or  lecture  which  has  stirred  some 
deep  thought  or  emotion,  and  call  with  a  sudden 
change  of  tone  for  recapitulation,  or  summary,  or 
discussion.  Silence  is  best ;  the  greater  lessons  of 
history  ought  to  transcend  the  limits  of  mere  lessons, 
they  are  part  of  life,  and  they  tell  more  upon  the 
mind  if  they  are  dissociated  from  the  harness  and 
trappings  of  school  work.  Written  papers  for 
younger  students  and  essays  for  seniors  are  the  best 
means  of  calling  for  their  results,  and  of  guiding  the 
line  of  reading  by  which  all  oral  teaching  of  history 
and  study  of  text-books  must  be  supplemented. 

When  school-room  education  is  finished  what  we 
may  look  for  is  that  girls  should  be  ready  and  inclined 
to  take  up  some  further  study  of  history,  by  private 
reading  or  following  lectures  with  intelligence,  and 
that  they  should  be  able  to  express  themselves  clearly 
in  writing,  either  in  the  form  of  notes,  papers,  or 
essays,  so  as  to  give  an  account  of  their  work  and 
their  opinions  to  those  who  may  direct  these  later 
studies.  We  may  hope  that  what  they  have  learned 
of  European  history  will  enable  them  to  travel  with 
understanding  and  appreciation,  that  places  with  a 
history  will  mean  something  to  them,  and  that  the 
great  impression  of  a  living  past  may  set  a  deep  mark 
upon  them  with  its  discipline  of  proportion  that  makes 
them  personally  so  small  and  yet  so  great,  small  in 
proportion  to  all  that  has  been,  great  in  their  inherit- 
ance from  the  whole  past  and  in  expectation  of  all 
that  is  yet  to  be, 


CHAPTEE  XI. 

ART. 

*'  Give  honour  unto  Luke  Evangelist : 
For  he  it  w&a  (the  aged  legends  say) 
Who  first  taught  Art  to  fold  her  hands  and  pray. 

Scarcely  at  once  she  dared  to  rend  the  mist 

Of  devious  symbols  :  but  soon  having  wist 

How  sky-breadth  and  field-silence  and  this  day 
Are  symbols  also  in  some  deeper  way, 

She  looked  through  these  to  God,  and  was  God's  priest. 

And  if,  past  noon,  her  toil  began  to  irk, 

And  she  sought  talismans,  and  turned  in  vain 
To  soulless  self-reflections  of  man's  skill, 
Yet  now,  in  this  the  twilight,  she  might  still 

Kneel  in  the  latter  grass  to  pray  again, 

Ere  the  night  cometh  and  she  may  not  work." 

Dante  Gabeibl  Rossetti. 

When  we  consider  how  much  of  the  direction  of  life 
depends  upon  the  quality  of  our  taste,  upon  right  dis- 
cernment in  what  we  like  and  dislike,  it  is  evident 
that  few  things  can  be  more  important  in  education 
than  to  direct  this  directing  force,  and  both  to  learn 
and  teach  the  taste  for  what  is  best  as  far  as  possible 
in  all  things.  For  in  the  matter  of  taste  nothing  is 
unimportant.  Taste  influences  us  in  every  department 
of  life,  as  our  tastes  are,  so  are  we.  The  whole  quality 
of  our  inner  and  outer  life  takes  its  tone  from  the 

183 


AKT  183 

things  in  which  we  find  pleasnre,  from  our  standard 
of  taste.  If  we  are  severe  in  onr  requirements,  hard 
to  please,  and  at  least  honest  with  ourselves,  it  will 
mean  that  a  spur  of  continual  dissatisfaction  pricks 
us,  in  all  we  do,  into  habitual  striving  for  an  excel- 
lence which  remains  beyond  our  reach.  But  on  the 
other  hand  we  shall  have  to  guard  against  that 
peevish  fastidiousness  which  narrows  itself  down  until 
it  can  see  nothing  but  defects  and  faults,  and  loses 
the  power  of  humbly  and  genuinely  admiring.  This 
passive  dissatisfaction  which  attempts  nothing  of  its 
own,  and  only  finds  fault  with  what  is  done  by  others, 
grows  very  fast  if  it  is  allowed  to  take  hold,  and  pro- 
duces a  mental  habit  of  merely  destructive  criticism 
or  perpetual  scolding.  Safe  in  attempting  nothing 
itself,  unassailable  and  self-righteous  as  a  Pharisee, 
this  spirit  can  only  pull  down  but  not  build  up  again. 
In  children  it  is  often  the  outcome  of  a  little  jealousy 
and  want  of  personal  courage,  they  can  be  helped  to 
overcome  it,  but  if  it  is  allowed  to  grow  up,  dissatis- 
faction allied  to  pusillanimity  are  very  difficult  to 
correct. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  we  are  amiably  and  cheerfully 
inclined  to  admire  things  in  general  in  a  popular  way, 
easily  pleased  and  not  exacting,  we  shall  both  receive 
and  give  a  great  deal  of  pleasure,  but  it  will  be  all  in  a 
second  and  third  and  fourth-rate  order  of  delight,  and 
although  this  comfortable  turn  of  mind  is  saved  from 
much  that  is  painful  and  jarring,  it  is  not  exempt 
from  the  danger  of  itself  jarring  continually  upon  the 
feelings  of  others,  of  pandering  to  the  downward 
tendency  in  what  is  popular,  and,  in  education,  of 


184        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

debasing  the  standard  of  taste  and  discrimination  for 
children.  To  be  swayed  by  popularity  in  matters  of 
taste  is  to  accept  mediocrity  wholesale.  We  have 
left  too  far  behind  the  ages  when  the  taste  of  the 
people  could  give  sound  and  true  judgment  in  matters 
of  art ;  we  have  left  them  at  a  distance  which  can  be 
measured  by  what  lies  between  the  greatest  Greek 
tragedies  and  contemporary  popular  plays.  Conster- 
nation is  frequently  expressed  at  seeing  how  theatres 
of  every  grade  are  crowded  with  children  of  all  classes 
in  life,  so  it  is  from  these  popular  plays  that  they 
must  be  learning  the  first  lessons  of  dramatic  criti- 
cism. 

There  are  only  rare  instances  of  taste  which  is  in- 
stinctively true,  and  the  process  of  educational  pres- 
sure tends  to  level  down  original  thought  in  children, 
as  the  excess  of  magazine  and  newspaper  reading 
works  in  the  same  direction  for  older  minds,  so  that 
true,  independent  taste  becomes  more  rare  ;  the  result 
does  not  seem  favourable  to  the  development  of  the 
best  discernment  in  those  who  ought  to  sway  the 
taste  of  their  generation.  If  taste  in  art  is  entirely 
guided  by  that  of  others,  and  especially  by  fashion,  it 
cannot  attain  to  the  possession  of  an  independent 
point  of  view ;  yet  this  in  a  modest  degree  every  one 
with  some  training  might  aspire  to.  But  under  the 
sway  of  fashion  taste  is  cowed ;  it  becomes  conven- 
tional, and  falls  under  the  dominion  of  the  current 
price  of  works  of  art.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  more 
unfortunate  to  be  self-taught  in  matters  of  taste  than 
in  any  other  order  of  things.  In  this  point  taste 
yanks  with  manners,  which  are,  after  all,  a  depart- 


ART  185 

ment  of  the  same  region  of  right  feeling  and  discern- 
ment. If  taste  is  untaught  and  spontaneous,  it  is 
generally  unreliable  and  without  consistency.  If 
self-taught  it  can  hardly  help  becoming — as  some 
highly  gifted  minds  have  become — dogmatic  and 
oracular,  making  themselves  the  supreme  court  of 
appeal  for  their  ovm  day. 

But  trained  taste  is  grounded  in  reverence  and 
discipleship,  a  lowly  and  firm  basis  for  departure,  from 
which  it  may,  if  it  has  the  power  to  do  or  to  discern, 
rise  in  its  strength,  and  leave  behind  those  who  have 
shown  the  way,  or  soar  in  great  flights  beyond  their 
view.  So  it  has  often  been  seen  in  the  history  of  art, 
and  such  is  the  right  order  of  growth.  It  needs  the 
living  voice  and  the  attentive  mind,  the  influence  of 
trained  and  experienced  judgment  to  guide  us  in  the 
beginning,  but  the  guide  must  let  us  go  at  last  and  we 
must  rely  upon  ourselves. 

The  bad  effect  of  being  either  self-taught  or  con- 
ventional is  exclusiveness ;  in  one  case  the  personal 
bias  is  too  marked,  in  the  other  the  temporary  aspect 
appeals  too  strongly.  In  the  education  of  taste  it  is 
needful  that  the  child  should  "  eat  butter  and  honey," 
not  only  so  as  to  refuse  the  evil  and  choose  the  good, 
but  also  to  judge  between  good  and  good,  and  to  know 
butter  from  honey  and  honey  from  butter.  This  is 
the  principal  end  of  the  study  of  art  in  early  educa- 
tion. The  doing  is  very  elementary,  but  the  principles 
of  discernment  are  something  for  life,  feeding  the 
springs  of  choice  and  delight,  and  making  sure  that 
they  shall  run  clear  and  untroubled. 

Teaching  concerning  art  which  can  be  given  to 


186        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

girls  has  to  be  approached  with  a  sense  of  responsi- 
bility from  conviction  of  the  importance  of  its  bear- 
ing on  character  as  a  whole.  Let  anyone  who  has 
tried  it  pass  in  review  a  number  of  girls  as  they  grow 
up,  and  judge  whether  their  instinct  in  art  does  not 
give  a  key  to  their  character,  always  supposing  that 
they  have  some  inclination  to  reflect  on  matters  of 
beauty,  for  there  are  some  who  are  candidly  indiffer- 
ent to  beauty  if  they  can  have  excitement.  They 
have  probably  been  spoiled  as  children  and  find  it 
hard  to  recover.  Excitement  has  worn  the  senses  so 
that  their  report  grows  dull  and  feeble.  Imagination 
runs  on  other  lines  and  requires  stimulants ;  there  is 
no  stillness  of  mind  in  which  the  perception  of  beauty 
and  harmony  and  fitness  can  grow  up. 

There  are  others — may  they  be  few — in  whose 
minds  there  is  little  room  for  anything  but  success. 
Utilitarians  in  social  life,  their  determination  is  to 
get  on.  And  this  spirit  pervades  all  they  do,  it  has 
the  making  of  the  hardest-grained  worldliness;  to 
these  art  has  nothing  to  say.  But  there  are  others 
to  whom  it  has  a  definite  message,  and  their  response 
to  it  corresponds  to  various  schools  or  stages  of  art. 

There  are  some  who  are  daring  and  explicit  in  their 
taste ;  they  resent  the  curb,  and  rush  into  what  is  ex- 
travagant with  a  very  feeble  protest  against  it  from 
within  themselves.  Beside  them  are  simpler  minds, 
merely  exuberant,  for  whom  there  can  never  be 
enough  light  or  colour  in  their  picture  of  life.  If 
they  are  gifted  with  enough  intelligence  to  steady 
their  joyful  constitution  of  mind,  these  will  often  de- 
velop a  taste  that  is  fine  and  true.    In  the  back- 


AET  187 

ground  of  the  group  are  generally  a  few  silent  mem- 
bers of  sensitive  temperament  and  deeper  intuition, 
who  see  with  marvellous  quickness,  but  see  too  much 
to  be  happy  and  content,  almost  too  much  to  be  true. 
They  incline  towards  another  extreme,  an  ideal  so 
high-pitched  as  to  become  unreal,  and  it  meets  with 
the  penalty  of  unreality  in  over-balancing  itself. 
Children  nearly  always  pull  to  one  side  or  the  other ; 
it  is  a  work  of  long  patience  even  to  make  them  accept 
that  there  should  be  a  golden  mean.  Did  they  ever 
need  it  so  much  as  they  do  now?  Probably  each 
generation  in  turn,  from  Solomon's  time  onward,  has 
asked  the  same  question.  But  in  the  modem  world 
there  can  hardly  have  been  a  time  in  which  the  prin- 
ciple of  moderation  needed  to  be  more  sustained,  for 
there  has  never  been  a  time  when  circumstances  made 
man  more  daring  in  face  of  the  forces  of  nature,  and 
this  same  daring  in  other  directions,  less  beautiful,  is 
apt  to  become  defiant  and  unashamed  of  excess.  It 
asserts  itself  most  loudly  in  modern  French  art,  but 
we  are  following  close  behind,  less  logical  and  with 
more  remaining  traditions  of  correctness,  but  influ- 
enced beyond  what  we  like  to  own. 

In  the  education  of  girls,  which  is  subject  to  so 
many  limitations,  very  often  short  in  itself,  always 
too  short  for  what  would  be  desirable  to  attain,  the 
best  way  to  harmonize  sesthetic  teaching  is  not  to 
treat  it  in  different  departments,  but  to  centre  all 
round  the  general  history  of  art.  This  leaves  in  every 
stage  the  possibility  of  taking  up  particular  branches 
of  art  study,  whether  historical,  or  technical,  or  prac- 
tical, and  these  will  find  their  right  place,  not  dissoci- 


188        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

ated  from  their  antecedents  and  causes,  not  paramount 
but  subordinate,  and  thus  rightly  proportioned  and 
true  in  their  relation  to  the  whole  progress  of  man- 
kind in  striving  after  beauty  and  the  expression  of 
it. 

The  history  of  art  in  connexion  with  the  general 
history  of  the  human  race  is  a  complement  to  it, 
ministering  to  the  understanding  of  what  is  most  in- 
timate, stamping  the  expression  of  the  dominant 
emotion  on  the  countenance  of  every  succeeding  age. 
This  is  what  its  art  has  left  to  us,  a  more  confidential 
record  than  its  annals  and  chronicles,  and  more  ac- 
cessible to  the  young,  who  can  often  understand 
feelings  before  they  can  take  account  of  facts  in  their 
historical  importance.  In  any  case  the  facts  are 
clothed  in  living  forms  there  where  belief  and  aspira- 
tion and  feeling  have  expressed  themselves  in  works 
of  art.  If  we  value  for  children  the  whole  impression 
of  the  centuries,  especially  in  European  history,  more 
than  the  mere  record  of  changes,  the  history  of  art 
will  allow  them  to  apprehend  it  almost  as  the  biogra- 
phies of  great  persons  who  have  set  their  signature 
upon  the  age  in  which  they  lived. 

As  each  of  the  fine  arts  has  its  own  history  which 
moves  along  divergent  or  parallel  lines  in  different 
countries  and  periods,  and  as  each  development  or 
check  is  bound  up  with  the  history  of  the  country 
or  period  and  bears  its  impress,  the  interpretation  of 
one  is  assisted  and  enriched  by  the  other,  and  both 
are  linked  together  to  illuminate  the  truth.  It  is 
only  necessary  to  consider  the  position  of  Christian  art 
in  the  thirteenth  arid  fourteenth  centuries,  and  the 


AET  189 

changes  wrought  by  the  Eenaissance,  to  estimate  the 
value  of  some  knowledge  of  it  in  giving  to  children  a 
right  understanding  of  those  times  and  of  what  they 
have  left  to  the  world.  Again,  the  inferences  to  be 
drawn  from  the  varied  developments  of  Gothic  archi- 
tecture in  France,  Spain,  and  England  are  roads  in- 
dicated to  what  is  possible  to  explore  in  later  studies, 
both  in  history  and  in  art.  And  so  the  schools  of 
painting  studied  in  their  history  make  ready  the  way 
for  closer  study  in  after  years.  Pugin's  "Book  of 
Contrasts  "  is  an  illustration  full  of  suggestive  power 
as  to  the  service  which  may  be  rendered  in  teaching 
by  comparing  the  art  of  one  century  with  that  of 
another,  as  expressive  of  the  spirit  of  each  period,  and 
a  means  of  reading  below  the  surface. 

Without  Pugin's  bitterness  the  same  method  of 
contrast  has  been  used  most  effectively  to  put  before 
children  by  means  of  lantern  slides  and  lectures  the 
manner  in  which  art  renders  truth  according  to  the 
various  ideals  and  convictions  of  the  artists.  It  is  a 
lesson  in  itself,  a  lesson  in  faith,  in  devotion,  as  well 
as  in  art  and  in  the  history  of  man's  mind,  to  show 
in  succession,  or  even  side  by  side,  though  the  shock 
is  painful,  works  of  art  in  which  the  Christian  mys- 
teries are  rendered  in  an  age  of  faith  or  in  one  of 
unbelief.  They  can  see  in  the  great  works  of  Catho- 
lic art  how  faith  exults  in  setting  them  forth,  with 
undoubting  assurance,  with  a  theological  grasp  of 
their  bearings  and  conclusions,  with  plenitude  of 
conviction  and  devotion  that  has  no  afterthoughts ; 
and  in  contrasting  with  these  the  strained  efforts  to 
represent  the  same  subjects  without  the  illumination 


190        THE  EDUOATIOK  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

of  theology  they  will  learn  to  measure  the  distance 
downwards  in  art  from  faith  to  unbelief. 

The  conclusions  may  carry  them  further,  to  judge 
from  the  most  modern  paintings  of  the  tone  of  mind 
of  their  own  time,  of  its  impatience  and  restlessness 
and  want  of  hope.  Let  them  compare  the  patient 
finish,  the  complete  thought  given  to  every  detail  in 
the  works  of  the  greatest  painters,  the  accumulated 
light  and  depth,  the  abounding  life,  with  the  hasty, 
jagged,  contemporary  manner  of  painting,  straining 
into  harshness  from  want  of  patience,  tense  and 
angular  from  want  of  real  vitality,  exhausted  from 
the  absence  of  inward  repose.  They  will  comment  for 
themselves  upon  the  pessimism  to  which  so  many 
surrender  themselves,  taking  with  them  their  religious 
art,  with  its  feeble  Madonnas  and  haggard  saints, 
without  hope  or  courage  or  help,  painted  out  of  the 
abundance  of  their  own  heart's  sadness.  This  con- 
trast carries  much  teaching  to  the  children  of  to-day  if 
they  can  understand  it,  for  each  one  who  sets  value 
upon  faith  and  hope  and  resolution  and  courage  in 
art  is  a  unit  adding  strength  to  the  line  of  defence 
against  the  invasions  of  sadness  and  dejection  of 
spirit. 

These  considerations  belong  to  the  moral  and 
spiritual  value  of  the  study  of  art,  in  the  early  years 
of  an  education  intended  to  be  general.  They  are  of 
primary  importance  although  in  themselves  only  in- 
direct results  of  the  study.  As  to  its  direct  results,  it 
may  be  said  in  general  that  two  things  must  be  aimed 
at  during  the  years  of  school  life,  appreciation  of 
the  beautiful  in  the  whole  realm  of  art,  and  some 


ART  191 

very  elementary  executipn  in  one  or  other  branch, 
some  doing  or  making  according  to  the  gift  of  each 
one. 

The  work  on  both  sides  is  and  can  be  only  prepara- 
tion, only  the  establishment  of  principles  and  the  lay- 
ing of  foundations ;  if  anything  further  is  attempted 
during  school  life  it  is  apt  to  throw  the  rest  of  the 
education  out  of  proportion,  for  in  nothing  whatever 
can  a  girl  leaving  the  school-room  be  looked  upon  as 
having  finished.  It  is  a  great  deal  if  she  is  well- 
grounded  and  ready  to  begin.  Even  the  very  branches 
of  study  to  which  a  disproportioned  space  has  been 
allowed  will  suffer  the  penalty  of  it  later  on,  for  the 
narrow  basis  of  incomplete  foundations  tends  to  make 
an  ill-balanced  superstructure  which  cannot  bear  the 
stress  of  effort  required  for  perfection  without  falhng 
into  eccentricity  or  wearing  itself  out.  Both  misfor- 
tunes have  been  seen  before  now  when  infant  pro- 
digies have  been  allowed  to  grow  on  one  side  only. 
Eestraint  and  control  and  general  building  up  tend  to 
strengthen  even  the  talent  which  has  apparently  to 
be  checked,  by  giving  it  space  and  equilibrium  and 
the  power  of  repose.  Even  if  art  should  be  their 
profession  or  their  life-work  in  any  form,  the  sacrifices 
made  for  general  education  will  be  compensated  in 
the  mental  and  moral  balance  of  their  work. 

If  general  principles  of  art  have  been  kept  before 
the  minds  of  children,  and  the  history  of  art  has  given 
them  some  true  ideas  of  its  evolution,  they  are  ready 
to  learn  the  technique  and  practice  of  any  branch  to 
which  they  may  be  attracted.  But  as  music  and 
painting  are  more  within  their  reach  than  other  arts, 


192        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

it  is  reasonable  that  they  should  be  provided  for  in  the 
education  of  every  child,  so  that  each  should  have  at 
least  the  offer  and  invitation  of  an  entrance  into  those 
worlds,  and  latent  talents  be  given  the  opportunity  of 
declaring  themselves.  Poetry  has  its  place  apart,  or 
rather  it  has  two  places,  its  own  in  the  field  of  litera- 
ture, and  another,  as  an  inspiration  pervading  all  the 
•  domain  of  the  fine  arts,  allied  with  music  by  a  natural 
affinity,  connected  with  painting  on  the  side  of  im- 
agination, related  in  one  way  or  another  to  all  that  is 
expressive  of  the  beautiful.  Children  will  feel  its 
influence  before  they  can  account  for  it,  and  it  is  well 
that  they  should  do  so — to  feel  it  is  in  the  direction  of 
refusing  the  evil  and  choosing  the  good. 

Music  is  coming  into  a  more  important  place  among 
educational  influences  now  that  the  old  superstition 
of  making  every  child  play  the  piano  is  passing  away. 
It  was  an  injustice  both  to  the  right  reason  of  a  child 
and  to  the  honour  of  music  when  it  was  forced  upon 
those  who  were  unwilling  and  unfit  to  attain  any 
degree  of  excellence  in  it.  "We  are  renouncing  these 
superstitions  and  turning  to  something  more  widely 
possible — to  cultivate  the  audience  and  teach  them  to 
listen  with  intelligence  to  that  which  without  instruc- 
tion is  scarcely  more  than  pleasant  noise,  or  at  best 
the  expression  of  emotion.  The  intellectual  aspect  of 
music  is  beginning  to  be  brought  forward  in  teaching 
children,  and  with  this  awakening  the  whole  effect 
of  music  in  education  is  indefinitely  raised.  It  has 
scarcely  had  time  to  tell  yet,  but  as  it  extends  more 
widely  and  makes  its  way  through  the  whole  of  our 
educational  system  it  may  be  hoped  that  the  old  com- 


ART  193 

plaints,  too  well  founded,  against  the  indifference  and 
carelessness  of  English  audiences,  will  be  heard  no 
more.  We  shall  never  attain  to  the  kind  of  religious 
awe  which  falls  upon  a  German  audience,  or  to  its 
moods  of  emotion,  but  we  may  reach  some  means  of 
expression  which  the  national  character  does  not 
forbid,  showing  at  least  that  we  understand,  even 
though  we  must  not  admit  that  we  feel. 

It  is  impossible  to  suggest  what  may  be  attained 
by  girls  of  exceptional  talent,  but  in  practice  if  the 
average  child-students,  with  fair  musical  ability,  can 
at  the  end  of  their  school  course  read  and  sing  at 
sight  fairly  easy  music,  and  have  a  good  beginning  of 
intelligent  playing  on  one  or  two  instruments,  they 
will  have  brought  their  foundations  in  musical  practice 
up  to  the  level  of  their  general  education.  If  with  some 
help  they  can  understand  the  structure  of  a  great 
musical  work,  and  perhaps  by  themselves  analyse  an 
easy  sonata,  they  will  be  in  a  position  to  appreciate 
the  best  of  what  they  will  hear  afterwards,  and  if 
they  have  learnt  something  of  the  history  of  music 
and  of  the  works  of  the  great  composers,  their  musical 
education  will  have  gone  as  far  as  proportion  allows 
before  they  are  grown  up.  Some  notions  of  harmony, 
enough  to  harmonize  by  the  most  elementary  methods 
a  simple  melody,  will  be  of  the  greatest  service  to  those 
whose  music  has  any  future  in  it. 

Catholic  girls  have  a  right  and  even  a  duty  to  learn 
something  of  the  Church's  own  music ;  and  in  this 
also  there  are  two  things  to  be  learnt — appreciation 
and  execution.  And  amongst  the  practical  applica- 
tions of  the  art  of  musio  to  Ufe  there  is  nothing  more 

18 


194        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

honourable  than  the  acquired  knowledge  of  ecclesias- 
tical music  to  be  used  in  the  service  of  the  Church. 
When  the  love  and  understanding  of  its  spirit  are 
acquired  the  diffusion  of  a  right  tone  in  Church  music 
is  a  means  of  doing  good,  as  true  and  as  much  V7ithin 
the  reach  of  many  girls  as  the  spread  of  good  litera- 
ture ;  and  in  a  small  and  indirect  v^^ay  it  allows  them 
the  privilege  of  ministering  to  the  beauty  of  Catholic 
worship  and  devotion. 

The  scope  of  drawing  and  painting  in  early  educa- 
tion has  been  most  ably  treated  of  in  many  general 
and  special  works,  and  does  not  concern  us  here  ex- 
cept in  so  far  as  it  is  connected  with  the  training  of 
taste  in  art  which  is  of  more  importance  to  Catholics 
than  to  others,  as  has  been  considered  above,  in  its 
relation  to  the  springs  of  spiritual  life,  to  faith  and 
devotion,  and  also  in  so  far  as  taste  in  art  serves  to 
strengthen  or  to  undermine  the  principles  on  which 
conduct  is  based.  We  have  to  brace  our  children's 
wills  to  face  restraint,  to  know  that  they  cannot 
cast  themselves  at  random  and  adrift  in  the  pursuit 
of  art,  that  their  ideals  must  be  more  severe  than 
those  of  others,  and  that  they  have  less  excuse  than 
others  if  they  allow  these  ideals  to  be  debased.  They 
ought  to  learn  to  be  proud  of  this  restraint,  not  to 
believe  themselves  thwarted  or  feel  themselves  galled 
by  it,  but  to  understand  that  it  stands  for  a  higher 
freedom  by  the  side  of  which  ease  and  unrestraint 
are  more  like  servitude  than  liberty ;  it  stands  for  the 
power  to  refuse  the  evil  and  choose  the  good ;  it 
stands  for  intellectual  and  moral  freedom  of  choice, 
holding  in  check  the  impulse  and  inclination  that  are 


ART  195 

prompted  from  within  and  invited  from  without  to 
escape  from  control. 

The  best  teaching  in  this  is  to  show  what  is  best, 
and  to  give  the  principles  by  which  it  is  to  be  judged. 
To  talk  of  what  is  bad,  or  less  good,  even  by  way  of 
warning,  is  less  persuasive  and  calculated  even  to  do 
harm  to  girls  whose  temper  of  mind  is  often  * '  quite 
contrary  ".  Warnings  are  wearisome  to  them,  and 
when  they  refer  to  remote  dangers,  partly  guessed  at, 
mostly  unknown,  they  even  excite  the  spirit  of  ad- 
venture to  go  and  find  out  for  themselves,  just  as 
in  childhood  repeated  warnings  and  threats  of  the 
nursery-maids  and  maiden  aunts  are  the  very  things 
which  set  the  spirit  of  enterprise  off  on  the  voyage  of 
discovery,  a  fact  which  the  head  nurse  and  the 
mother  have  found  out  long  ago,  and  so  have  learnt 
to  refrain  from  these  attractive  advertisements  of 
danger.  So  it  is  with  teachers.  We  learn  by  experi- 
ence that  a  trumpet  blast  of  warning  wakes  the  echoes 
at  first  and  rouses  all  that  is  to  be  roused,  but  also 
that  if  it  is  often  repeated  it  dulls  the  ear  and  calls 
forth  no  response  at  all.  Quiet  positive  teaching  con- 
vinces children ;  to  show  them  the  best  things  at- 
tracts them,  and  once  their  true  allegiance  is  given  to 
the  best,  they  have  more  security  within  themselves 
than  in  many  danger  signals  set  up  for  their  safety. 
What  is  most  persuasive  of  all  is  a  whole-hearted 
love  for  real  truth  and  beauty  in  those  who  teach 
them.  Their  own  glow  of  enthusiasm  is  caught, 
light  from  light,  and  taste  from  taste,  and  ideal  from 
ideal ;  warning  may  be  lost  sight  of,  but  this  is  living 

spirit  and  will  last. 

13* 


196        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

What  children  can  accomplish  by  the  excellent 
methods  of  teaching  drawing  and  painting  which 
are  coming  into  use  now,  it  is  difficult  to  say. 
Talent  as  well  as  circumstances  and  conditions  of 
education  differ  very  widely  in  this.  But  as  prepara- 
tion for  intelligent  appreciation  they  should  acquire 
some  elementary  principles  of  criticism,  and  some 
knowledge  of  the  history  and  of  the  different  schools  of 
painting,  indications  of  what  to  look  for  here  and 
there  in  Europe  and  likewise  of  how  to  look  at  it ; 
this  is  what  they  can  take  with  them  as  a  foundation, 
and  in  some  degree  all  can  acquire  enough  to  con- 
tinue their  own  education  according  to  their  oppor- 
tunities. Matter-of-fact  minds  can  learn  enough  not 
to  be  intolerable,  the  average  enough  to  guide  and 
safeguard  their  taste.  They  are  important,  for  they 
will  be  in  general  the  multitude,  the  public,  whose 
judgment  is  of  consequence  by  its  weight  of  numbers ; 
they  will  by  their  demand  make  art  go  upwards  or 
downwards  according  to  their  pleasure.  For  the 
few,  the  precious  few  who  are  chosen  and  gifted  to 
have  a  more  definite  influence,  all  the  love  they  can 
acquire  in  their  early  years  for  the  best  in  art  will 
attach  them  for  life  to  what  is  sane  and  true  and 
lovely  and  of  good  fame. 

The  foundations  of  all  this  lie  very  deep  in  human 
nature,  and  taste  will  be  consistent  with  itself 
throughout  the  whole  of  life.  It  manifests  itself  in 
early  sensitiveness  and  responsiveness  to  artistic 
beauty.  It  determines  the  choice  in  what  to  love  as 
well  as  what  to  like.  It  will  assert  itself  in  friend- 
ship, and  estrangement  in  matters  of  taste  is  often  the 


ART  197 

first  indication  of  a  divergence  in  ideals  which  con- 
tinues and  grows  more  marked  until  at  some  cross- 
roads one  takes  the  higher  path  and  the  other  the 
lower  and  their  ways  never  meet  again.  That 
higher  path,  the  disinterested  love  of  beauty,  calls  for 
much  sacrifice;  it  must  seek  its  pleasure  only  in  the 
highest,  and  not  look  for  a  first  taste  of  delight,  but 
a  second,  when  the  power  of  criticism  has  been 
schooled  by  a  kind  of  asceticism  to  detect  the  choice 
from  the  vulgar  and  the  true  from  the  insincere. 
This  spirit  of  sacrifice  must  enter  into  every  form  of 
training  for  life,  but  above  all  into  the  training  of  the 
Catholic  mind.  It  has  a  wide  range  and  asks  much 
of  its  disciples,  a  certain  renunciation  and  self-re- 
straint in  all  things  which  never  completely  lets  itself 
go.  Catholic  art  bears  witness  to  this  :  "  Where  a 
man  seeks  himself  there  he  falls  from  love,"  says  a 
Kempis,  and  this  is  proved  not  only  in  the  love  of 
God,  but  in  what  makes  the  glory  of  Christian  art, 
the  love  of  beauty  and  truth  in  the  service  of  faith. 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

MANNERS. 

"  Manners  are  the  happy  ways  of  doing  things  ;  each — once — a 
Btroke  of  genius  or  of  love,  now  repeated  and  hardened  into 
usage." — Emerson. 

The  late  Queen  Victoria  had  a  profound  sense  of  the 
importance  of  manners  and  of  certain  conventional- 
ities, and  the  singular  gift  of  common  sense,  which 
stood  for  so  much  in  her,  stands  also  for  the  signifi- 
cance of  those  things  on  which  she  laid  so  much 
stress. 

Conventionality  has  a  bad  name  at  present,  and 
manners  are  on  the  decline,  this  is  a  fact  quite  undis- 
puted. As  to  conventionalities  it  is  assumed  that 
they  represent  an  artificial  and  hollow  code,  from  the 
pressure  of  which  all,  and  especially  the  young,  should 
be  emancipated.  And  it  may  well  be  that  there  is 
something  to  be  said  in  favour  of  modifying  them — in 
fact  it  must  be  so,  for  all  human  things  need  at  times 
to  be  revised  and  readapted  to  special  and  local  con- 
ditions. To  attempt  to  enforce  the  same  code  of 
conventions  on  human  society  in  different  countries, 
or  at  different  stages  of  development,  is  necessarily 
artificial,  and  if  pressed  too  far  it  provokes  reaction, 
and  in  reaction  we  almost  inevitably  go  to  extreme 

198 


MANNERS  199 

lengths.  So  in  reaction  against  too  rigid  convention- 
alities and  a  social  ritual  which  was  perhaps  over- 
exacting,  we  are  swinging  out  beyond  control  in  the 
direction  of  complete  spontaneity.  And  yet  there  is 
need  for  a  code  of  conventions — for  some  established 
defence  against  the  instincts  of  selfishness  which  find 
their  way  back  by  a  short  cut  to  barbarism  if  they 
are  not  kept  in  check. 

Civilized  selfishness  leads  to  a  worse  kind  of  barbar- 
ism than  that  of  rude  and  primitive  states  of  society, 
because  it  has  more  resources  at  its  command,  as 
cruelty  with  refinement  has  more  resources  for  inflict- 
ing pain  than  cruelty  which  can  only  strike  hard. 
Civilized  selfishness  is  worse  also  in  that  it  has  let  go 
of  better  things ;  it  is  not  in  progress  towards  a  higher 
plane  of  life  but  has  turned  its  back  upon  ideals  and  is 
slipping  on  the  down-grade  without  a  check.  We  can 
see  the  complete  expression  of  life  without  conventions 
in  the  unrestraint  of  "  hooliganism  "  with  us,  and  its 
equivalents  in  other  countries.  In  this  we  observe  the 
characteristic  product  of  bringing  up  without  either 
religion,  or  conventions,  or  teaching  in  good  manners 
which  are  inseparable  from  religion.  We  see  the 
demoralization  of  the  very  forces  which  make  both 
the  strength  and  the  weakness  of  youth  and  a  great 
part  of  its  charm,  the  impetuosity,  the  fearlessness  of 
consequence,  the  lightheartedness,  the  exuberance 
which  would  have  been  so  strong  for  good  if  rightly 
turned,  become  through  want  of  this  right  impetus 
and  control  not  strong  but  violent,  uncontrollable 
and  reckless  to  a  degree  which  terrifies  the  very 
authorities  who  are  responsible  for  them,  in  that 


m       TflE  EDUCATION  OP  CATHOLIC  GIftliS 

system  which  is  bringing  up  children  with  nothing 
to  hold  by,  and  nothing  to  which  they  can  appeal. 

Girls  are  inclined  to  go  even  further  than  boys  in 
this  unrestraint  through  their  greater  excitability  and 
recklessness,  and  their  having  less  instinct  of  self- 
preservation.  It  is  a  problem  for  the  local  auth- 
orities. Their  lavish  expenditure  upon  sanitation, 
adornment,  and — to  use  the  favourite  word — "  equip- 
ment "  of  their  schools  does  not  seem  to  touch  it; 
in  fact  it  cannot  reach  the  real  difficulty,  for  it  makes 
appeal  to  the  senses  and  neglects  the  soul,  and  the 
souls  of  children  are  hungry  for  faith  and  love  and 
something  higher  to  look  for,  beyond  the  well-being 
of  to-day  in  the  schools,  and  the  struggle  for  life,  in 
the  streets,  to-morrow. 

It  is  not  only  in  the  elementary  schools  that 
such  types  of  formidable  selfishness  are  produced. 
In  any  class  of  life,  in  school  or  home,  wherever 
a  child  is  growing  up  without  control  and  "  handling," 
without  the  discipline  of  religion  and  manners, 
without  the  yoke  of  obligations  enforcing  respect 
and  consideration  for  others,  there  a  rough  is  being 
brought  up,  not  so  loud-voiced  or  so  uncouth  as  the 
street-rough,  but  as  much  out  of  tune  with  goodness 
and  honour,  with  as  little  to  hold  by  and  appeal  to, 
as  troublesome  and  dangerous  either  at  home  or  in 
society,  as  uncertain  and  unreliable  in  a  party  or  a 
ministry,  and  in  any  association  that  makes  demand 
upon  self-control  in  the  name  of  duty. 

This  is  very  generally  recognized  and  deplored,  but 
except  within  the  Church,  which  has  kept  the  key  to 
these  questions,   the   remedy  is   hard  to  find.     In- 


MANNERS  fiOl 

Specters  of  elementary  schools  have  been  heard  to 
say  that,  even  in  districts  where  the  Catholic  school 
was  composed  of  the  poorest  and  roughest  elements, 
the  manners  were  better  than  those  of  the  well-to-do 
children  in  the  neighbouring  Council  schools.  They 
could  not  account  for  it,  but  we  can ;  the  precious  hour 
of  religious  teaching  for  which  we  have  had  to  fight 
so  hard,  influences  the  whole  day  and  helps  to  create 
the  "Catholic  atmosphere"  which  in  its  own  way 
tells  perhaps  more  widely  than  the  teaching.  Faith 
tells  of  the  presence  of  God  and  this  underlies  the 
rest,  while  the  sense  of  friendly  protection,  the  love  of 
Our  Lady,  the  angels,  and  saints,  the  love  of  the  priest 
who  administers  all  that  Catholic  children  most  value, 
who  blesses  and  absolves  them  in  God's  name,  all 
these  carry  them  out  of  what  ia  wretched  and  de- 
pressing in  their  surroundings  to  a  different  world  in 
which  they  give  and  receive  love  and  respect  as 
children  of  God.  No  wonder  their  manners  are 
gentler  and  their  intercourse  more  disposed  to  friend- 
liness, there  is  something  to  appeal  to  and  uphold, 
something  to  love. 

The  Protestant  Keformation  breaking  up  these 
relations  and  all  the  ceremonial  observance  in  which 
they  found  expression,  necessarily  produced  deteriora- 
tion of  manners.  As  soon  as  anyone,  especially 
a  child,  becomes — not  rightly  but  aggressively — in- 
dependent, argumentatively  preoccupied  in  asserting 
that  "  I  am  as  good  as  you  are,  and  I  can  do  without 
you  " — he  falls  from  the  right  proportion  of  things, 
becomes  less  instead  of  greater,  because  he  stands 
alone,  and  from  this  to  warfare  against  all  order  and 


202       THE  EDUOATIOIT  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

control  the  step  is  short.  So  it  has  proved.  The 
principles  of  Protestantism  worked  out  to  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Revolution,  and  to  their  natural  outcome, 
seen  at  its  worst  in  the  Eeign  of  Terror  and  the  Com- 
mune of  1871  in  Paris. 

Again  the  influence  of  the  Church  on  manners  was 
dominant  in  the  age  of  chivalry.  At  that  time  religion 
and  manners  were  known  to  be  inseparable,  and  it 
was  the  Church  that  handled  the  rough  vigour  of  her 
sons  to  make  them  gentle  as  knights.  This  is  so  well 
known  that  it  needs  no  more  than  calling  to  mind, 
and,  turning  attention  to  the  fact  that  all  the  handling 
was  fundamental,  it  is  handling  that  makes  manners. 
Even  the  derivation  of  the  word  does  not  let  us  forget 
this — manners  from  manures,  from  manier,  from 
main,  from  manus,  the  touch  of  the  human  hand 
upon  the  art  of  living  worthily  in  human  society, 
without  offence  and  without  contention,  with  the 
gentleness  of  a  race,  the  gens,  that  owns  a  common 
origin,  the  urbanity  of  those  who  have  learned  to 
dwell  in  a  city  "compact  together,"  the  respect  of 
those  who  have  some  one  to  look  to  for  approval  and 
control,  either  above  them  in  dignity,  or  beneath 
them  in  strength,  and  therefore  to  be  considered  with 
due  reverence. 

The  handling  began  early  in  days  of  chivalry,  no 
time  was  lost,  because  there  would  necessarily  be 
checks  on  the  way.  Knighthood  was  far  off,  but 
it  could  not  be  caught  sight  of  too  early  as  an  ideal, 
and  it  was  characteristic  of  the  consideration  of  the 
Church  that,  in  the  scheme  of  manners  over  which 
she  held  sway,  the  first  training  of  her  knights  was 


MANNERS  203 

intrusted  to  women.  For  women  set  the  standard 
of  manners  in  every  age,  if  a  child  has  not  learnt  by 
seven  years  old  how  to  behave  towards  them  it  is 
scarcely  possible  for  him  to  learn  it  at  all,  and  it  is 
by  women  only  that  it  can  be  taught.  The  little 
damoiseaux  would  have  perfect  and  accomplished 
manners  for  their  age  when  they  left  the  apartments 
of  the  ladies  at  seven  years  old ;  it  was  a  matter  of 
course  that  they  would  fall  off  a  good  deal  in  their 
next  stage.  They  would  become  "pert,"  as  pages 
were  supposed  to  be,  and  diffident  as  esquires,  but  as 
knights  they  would  come  back  of  themselves  to  the 
perfect  ways  of  their  childhood  with  a  grace  that  be- 
came well  the  strength  and  self-possession  of  their 
knighthood.  We  have  no  longer  the  same  formal  and 
ceremonial  training ;  it  is  not  possible  in  our  own  times 
under  the  altered  conditions  of  hfe,  yet  it  commands 
attention  for  those  who  have  at  heart  the  future  well- 
being  of  the  boys  and  girls  of  to-day.  The  funda- 
mental facts  upon  which  manners  are  grounded 
remain  the  same.  These  are,  some  of  them,  worth 
consideration  : — 

1.  That  manners  represent  a  great  deal  more  than 
mere  social  observances ;  they  stand  as  the  outward 
expression  of  some  of  the  deepest  springs  of  conduct, 
and  none  of  the  modern  magic  of  philanthropy — 
altruism,  culture,  the  freedom  and  good-fellowship  of 
democracy,  replaces  them,  because,  in  their  spirit, 
manners  belong  to  religion. 

2.  That  manners  are  a  matter  of  individual  training, 
so  that  they  could  never  be  learnt  from  a  book.  They 
can  scarcely  be  taught,   except  in    their   simplest 


204        THE  EDUCATION  OP  CATHOLIC  GIBLS 

elements,  to  a  class  or  school  as  a  whole,  but  the 
authority  which  stands  nearest  in  responsibility  to 
each  child,  either  in  the  home  circle  or  at  school,  has 
to  make  a  special  study  of  it  in  order  to  teach  it 
manners.  The  reason  of  this  is  evident.  In  each 
nature  selfishness  crops  out  on  one  side  rather  than 
another,  and  it  is  this  which  has  to  be  studied,  that 
the  forward  may  be  repressed,  the  shy  or  indolent 
stimulated,  the  dreamy  quickened  into  attention,  and 
all  the  other  defective  sides  recognized  and  taken, 
literally,  in  hand,  to  be  modelled  to  a  better  form. 

3.  That  training  in  manners  is  not  a  short  course 
but  a  long  course  of  study,  a  work  of  patience  on  both 
sides,  of  gentle  and  most  insistent  handling  on  one 
side  and  of  long  endurance  on  the  other.  There  are 
a  very  few  exquisite  natures  with  whom  the  grace  of 
manners  seems  to  be  inborn.  They  are  not  very 
vigorous,  not  physically  robust ;  their  own  sensitive- 
ness serves  as  a  private  tutor  or  monitor  to  tell  them 
at  the  right  moment  what  others  feel,  and  what  they 
should  say  or  do.  They  have  a  great  gift,  but  they 
lay  down  their  price  for  it,  and  suffer  for  others  as 
well  as  in  themselves  more  than  their  share.  But  in 
general,  the  average  boy  and  girl  needs  a  "  daily 
exercise  "  which  in  most  cases  amounts  to  "  nagging," 
and  in  the  best  hands  is  only  saved  from  nagging  by 
its  absence  of  peevishness,  and  the  patience  with 
which  it  reminds  and  urges  and  teases  into  perfect 
observance.  The  teasing  thing,  and  yet  the  most 
necessary  one,  is  the  constant  check  upon  the  pre- 
occupying interests  of  children,  so  that  in  presence 
of  their  elders  they  can  never  completely  let  them- 
selves go,  but  have  to  be  attentive  to  every  service  of 


MANNERS  906 

consideration  or  mark  of  respect  that  occasion  calls 
for.  It  is  very  wearisome,  but  when  it  has  been 
acquired  through  laborious  years — there  it  is,  like  a 
special  sense  superadded  to  the  ordinary  endowments 
of  nature,  giving  presence  of  mind  and  self-possession, 
arming  the  whole  being  against  surprise  or  awkward- 
ness or  indiscretion,  and  controlling  what  has  so  long 
appeared  to  exercise  control  over  it — the  conditions 
of  social  intercourse. 

How  shall  we  persuade  the  children  of  to-day  that 
manners  and  conventions  have  not  come  to  an  end 
as  part  of  the  old  regime  which  appears  to  them  an 
elaborate  unreality  V  It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  do 
so,  at  school  especially,  as  in  many  cases  their  whole 
family  consents  to  regard  them  as  extinct,  and  only 
when  startled  at  the  over-growth  of  their  girls'  un- 
mannerly roughness  and  self-assertion  they  send 
them  to  school  "  to  have  their  manners  attended 
to  "  ;  but  then  it  is  too  late.  The  only  way  to  form 
manners  is  to  teach  them  from  the  beginning  as  a 
part  of  religion,  as  indeed  they  are.  Devotion  to  Our 
Lady  will  give  to  the  manners  both  of  boys  and  girls 
something  which  stamps  them  as  Christian  and 
Catholic,  something  above  the  world's  level.  And,  as 
has  been  so  often  pointed  out,  the  Church's  ritual  is 
the  court  ceremonial  of  the  most  perfect  manners, 
in  which  every  least  detail  has  its  significance,  and 
applies  some  principle  of  inward  faith  and  devotion 
to  outward  servica 

If  we  could  get  to  the  root  of  all  that  the  older 
codes  of  manners  required,  and  even  the  convention- 
alities of  modern  life — these  remnants,  in  so  far  as 
they  are  based  on  the  older  codes, — it  would  be  found 


206        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

that,  as  in  the  Church's  ceremonial,  not  one  of  them 
was  without  its  meaning,  but  that  all  represented 
some  principle  of  Christian  conduct,  even  if  they 
have  developed  into  expressions  which  seem  trivial. 
Human  things  tend  to  exaggeration  and  to  "  sport," 
as  gardeners  say,  from  their  type  into  strange  varieties, 
and  so  the  manners  which  were  the  outcome  of 
chivalry — exquisite,  idealized,  and  restrained  in  their 
best  period,  grew  artificial  in  later  times  and  elabor- 
ated themselves  into  an  etiquette  which  grew  tyran- 
nical and  even  ridiculous,  and  added  violence  to  the 
inevitable  reaction  which  followed.  But  if  we  look 
beyond  the  outward  form  to  the  spirit  of  such  pre- 
scriptions as  are  left  in  force,  there  is  something 
noble  in  their  origin,  either  the  laws  of  hospitality 
regulating  all  the  relations  of  host  and  guest,  or 
reverence  for  innocence  and  weakness  which  sur- 
rounded the  dignity  of  both  with  lines  of  chivalrous 
defence,  or  the  sensitiveness  of  personal  honour,  the 
instinct  of  what  was  due  to  oneself,  an  inward  law 
that  compelled  a  line  of  conduct  that  was  unselfish 
and  honourable.  So  the  relics  of  these  lofty  con- 
ventions are  deserving  of  all  respect,  and  they  cannot 
be  disregarded  without  tampering  with  foundations 
which  it  is  not  safe  to  touch.  They  are  falling  into 
disrepute,  but  for  the  love  of  the  children  let  us  main- 
tain them  as  far  as  we  can.  The  experience  of  past 
ages  has  laid  up  lessons  for  us,  and  if  we  can  take 
them  in  let  us  do  so,  if  only  as  a  training  for  children 
in  self-control,  for  which  they  will  find  other  uses  a 
few  years  hence. 

But  in  doing  this  we  must  take  account  of  all  that 


MANNERS  207 

has  changed.  There  are  some  antique  forms,  beautiful 
and  full  of  dignity,  which  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to 
revive ;  they  cannot  live  again,  they  are  too  massive 
for  our  mobile  manner  of  life  to-day.  And  on  the 
other  hand  there  are  some  v^hich  are  too  high-pitched, 
or  too  delicate.  We  are  living  in  a  democratic  age, 
and  must  be  able  to  stand  against  its  stress.  So  in 
the  education  of  girls  a  greater  measure  of  independ- 
ence must  necessarily  be  given  to  them,  and  they 
must  learn  to  use  it,  to  become  self-reliant  and  self- 
protecting.  They  have  to  grow  more  conscious,  less 
trustful,  a  little  harder  in  outline  ;  one  kind  of  young 
dignity  has  to  be  exchanged  for  another,  an  attitude 
of  self-defence  is  necessary.  There  is  perhaps  a 
certain  loss  in  it,  but  it  is  inevitable.  The  real  mis- 
fortune is  that  the  first  line  of  defence  is  often  sur- 
rendered before  the  second  is  ready,  and  a  sudden 
relaxation  of  control  tends  to  yield  too  much  ;  in  fact 
girls  are  apt  to  lose  their  heads  and  abandon  their 
self-control  further  than  they  are  able  to  resume  it. 
Once  they  have  "  let  themselves  go  " — it  is  the  favour- 
ite phrase,  and  for  once  a  phrase  that  completely 
conveys  its  meaning — it  is  exceedingly  difl&cult  for 
them  to  stop  themselves,  impossible  for  others  to 
stop  them  by  force,  for  the  daring  ones  are  quite 
ready  to  break  vnth  their  friends,  and  the  others  can 
elude  control  with  very  httle  difficulty.  The  only 
security  is  a  complete  armour  of  self-control  based 
on  faith,  and  a  home  tie  which  is  a  guarantee  for 
happiness.  Girls  who  are  not  happy  in  their  own 
homes  live  in  an  atmosphere  of  temptation  which 
they  can  scarcely  resist,  and  the  happiness  of  home 


208        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

is  dependent  in  a  great  measure  upon  the  manners 
of  home,  "  there  is  no  surer  dissolvant  of  home  affec- 
tions than  discourtesy  ".1  It  is  useless  to  insist  on 
this,  it  is  known  and  admitted  by  almost  all,  but  the 
remedy  or  the  preventive  is  hard  to  apply,  demand- 
ing such  constant  self-sacrifice  on  the  part  of  parents 
that  all  are  not  ready  to  practise  it ;  it  is  so  much 
easier  and  it  looks  at  first  sight  so  kind  to  let  children 
have  their  way.  So  kind  at  first,  so  unselfish  in 
appearance,  the  parents  giving  way,  abdicating  their 
authority,  while  the  young  democracy  in  the  nursery 
or  school-room  takes  the  reins  in  hand  so  willingly, 
makes  the  laws,  or  rather  rules  without  them,  by  its 
sovereign  moods,  and  then  outgrows  the  "  establish- 
ment "  altogether,  requires  more  scope,  snaps  the 
link  vidth  home,  scarcely  regretting,  and  goes  o£f  on 
its  own  account  to  elbow  its  way  in  the  world.  It  is 
obviously  necessary  and  perhaps  desirable  that  many 
girls  should  have  to  make  their  own  way  in  the 
world  who  would  formerly  have  lived  at  home,  but 
often  the  way  in  which  it  is  done  is  all  wrong,  and 
leaves  behind  on  both  sides  recollections  with  a  touch 
of  soreness. 

For  those  who  are  practically  concerned  with  the 
education  of  girls  the  question  is  how  to  attain  what 
we  want  for  them,  while  the  force  of  the  current  is 
set  so  strongly  against  us.  We  have  to  make  up  our 
minds  as  to  what  conventions  can  survive  and  fix  in 
some  way  the  high  and  low-water  marks,  for  there 
must  be  both,  the  highest  that  we  can  attain, 
and  the  lowest  that  we  can  accept.  All  material 
'D.  Urquhart. 


MANNEBS  fl09 

is  not  alike ;  some  cannot  take  polish  at  all.  It  is  well 
if  it  can  be  made  tolerable ;  if  it  does  not  fall  below  that 
level  of  manners  which  are  at  least  the  safeguard  of 
conduct ;  if  it  can  impose  upon  itself  and  accept  at 
least  so  much  restraint  as  to  make  it  inoffensive,  not 
aggressively  selfish.  Perhaps  the  low-water  mark 
might  be  fixed  at  the  remembrance  that  other  people 
have  rights  and  the  observance  of  their  claims.  This 
would  secure  at  least  the  common  marks  of  respect 
and  the  necessary  conventionalities  of  intercourse. 
For  ordinary  use  the  high- water  mark  might  attain 
to  the  remembrance  that  other  people  have  feelings, 
and  to  taking  them  into  account,  and  as  an  ordinary 
guide  of  conduct  this  includes  a  great  deal  and  re- 
quires training  and  watchfulness  to  establish  it,  even 
where  there  is  no  exceptional  selfishness  or  bluntness 
of  sense  to  be  overcome.  The  nature  of  an  ordinary 
healthy  energetic  child,  high-spirited  and  boisterous, 
full  of  a  hundred  interests  of  its  own,  finds  the  mere 
attention  to  these  things  a  heavy  yoke,  and  the  con- 
stant self-denial  needed  to  carry  them  out  is  a  labor- 
ious work 'indeed. 

The  slow  process  of  polishing  marble  has  more 
than  one  point  of  resemblance  with  the  training  of 
manners ;  it  is  satisfactory  to  think  that  the  re- 
semblance goes  further  than  the  process,  that  as 
only  by  polishing  can  the  concealed  beauties  of  the 
marble  be  brought  out,  so  only  in  the  perfecting  of 
manners  will  the  finer  grain  of  character  and  feeling 
be  revealed.  Polishing  is  a  process  which  may  reach 
different  degrees  of  brilliancy  according  to  the  ma- 
terial on  which  it  is  performed ;  and  so  in  the  teaching 

14 


210        THE  EDtJOATlOK  OF  OATHOLIO  GIRLS 

of  manners  a  great  deal  depends  upon  the  quality  of 
the  nature,  and  the  amount  of  expression  which  it  is 
capable  of  acquiring.  It  isuseless  to  press  for  what  can- 
not be  given,  at  the  same  time  it  is  unfair  not  to  exact 
the  best  that  every  one  is  able  to  give.  As  in  all  that  has 
to  do  with  character,  example  is  better  than  precept. 

But  in  the  matter  of  manners  example  alone  is  by 
no  means  enough ;  precept  is  formally  necessary,  and 
precept  has  to  be  enforced  by  exercise.  It  is  necessary 
because  the  origin  of  established  conventionalities  is 
remote  ;  they  do  not  speak  for  themselves,  they  are  the 
outcome  of  a  general  habit  of  thought,  they  have 
come  into  being  through  a  long  succession  of  preced- 
ents. We  cannot  explain  them  fully  to  children ;  they 
can  only  have  the  summary  and  results  of  them,  and 
these  are  dry  and  grinding,  opposed  to  the  unpremedi- 
tated spontaneous  ways  of  acting  in  which  they  de- 
hght.  Manners  are  almost  fatally  opposed  to  the 
sudden  happy  thoughts  of  doing  something  original, 
which  occur  to  children's  minds.  No  wonder  they 
dislike  them ;  we  must  be  prepared  for  this.  They 
are  almost  grown  up  before  they  can  understand  the 
value  of  what  they  have  gone  through  in  acquiring 
these  habits  of  unselfishness,  but  unlike  many  other 
subjects  to  which  they  are  obliged  to  give  time  and 
labour,  they  will  not  leave  this  behind  in  the  school- 
room. It  is  then  that  they  will  begin  to  exercise  with 
ease  and  precision  of  long  practice  the  art  of  the  best 
and  most  expressive  conduct  in  every  situation  which 
their  circumstances  may  create. 

In  connexion  with  this  question  of  circumstances 
in  life  and  the  situations  which  arise  out  of  them, 


MANNERS  211 

there  is  one  thing  which  ought  to  be  taught  to 
children  as  a  fundamental  principle,  and  that  is  the 
relation  of  manners  to  class  of  life,  and  what  is  meant 
by  vulgarity.  For  vulgarity  is  not — what  it  is  too 
often  assumed  to  be — a  matter  of  class,  but  in  itself 
a  matter  of  insincerity,  the  effort  to  appear  or  to  be 
something  that  one  is  not.  The  contrary  of  vulgarity, 
by  the  word,  is  preciousness  or  distinction,  and  in 
conduct  or  act  it  is  the  perfect  preciousness  and  dis- 
tinction of  truthfulness.  Truthfulness  in  manners 
gives  distinction  and  dignity  in  all  classes  of  society ; 
truthfulness  gives  that  simplicity  of  manners  which  is 
one  of  the  special  graces  of  royalty,  and  also  of  an  un- 
spoiled and  especially  a  Catholic  peasantry.  Vulgarity 
has  an  element  of  restless  unreality  and  pretentious 
striving,  an  affectation  or  assumption  of  ways  which  do 
not  belong  to  it,  and  in  particular  an  unwillingness  to 
serve,  and  a  dread  of  owning  any  obligation  of  service. 
Yet  service  perfects  manners  and  dignity,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  and  the  manners  of  perfect 
servants  either  public  or  private  are  models  of  dignity 
and  fitness.  The  manners  of  the  best  servants  often 
put  to  shame  those  of  their  employers,  for  their  self- 
possession  and  complete  knowledge  of  what  they  aie 
and  ought  to  be  raises  them  above  the  unquietness  ol 
those  who  have  a  suspicion  that  they  are  not  quite 
what  might  be  expected  of  them.  It  is  on  this  un- 
certain ground  that  all  the  blunders  of  manners  occur ; 
when  simplicity  is  lost  disaster  follows,  with  loss  of 
dignity  and  self-respect,  and  pretentiousness  forces  its 
way  through,  to  claim  the  respect  which  it  is  con- 
scious of  not  deserving. 


212       THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  OIRLS 

Truth,  then,  is  the  foundation  of  distinction  in 
manners  for  every  class,  and  the  manners  of  children 
are  beautiful  and  perfect  when  simplicity  bears  witness 
to  inward  truthfulness  and  consideration  for  others, 
when  it  expresses  modesty  as  to  themselves  and 
kindness  of  heart  towards  every  one.  It  does  not 
require  much  display  or  much  ceremonial  for  their 
manners  to  be  perfect  according  to  the  requirements 
of  life  at  present ;  the  ritual  of  society  is  a  variable 
thing,  sometimes  very  exacting,  at  others  disposed  to 
every  concession,  but  these  things  do  not  vary — truth, 
modesty,  reverence,  kindness  are  of  all  times,  and 
these  are  the  bases  of  our  teaching. 

The  personal  contribution  of  those  who  teach,  the 
influence  of  their  companionship  is  that  which  estab- 
lishes the  standard,  their  patience  is  the  measure 
which  determines  the  limits  of  attainment,  for  it  is 
only  patience  which  makes  a  perfect  work,  whether  the 
attainment  be  high  or  low.  It  takes  more  patience  to 
bring  poor  material  up  to  a  presentable  standard  than 
to  direct  the  quick  intuitions  of  those  who  are  more 
responsive ;  in  one  case  efforts  meet  with  resistance, 
in  the  other,  generally  with  correspondence.  But 
our  own  practice  is  for  ourselves  the  important  thing, 
for  the  inward  standard  is  the  point  of  departure,  and 
our  own  sincerity  is  a  light  as  well  as  a  rule,  or  rather 
it  is  a  rule  because  it  is  a  light;  it  prevents  the 
standard  of  manners  from  being  double,  one  for  use 
and  one  for  ornament ;  it  imposes  respect  to  be  ob- 
served with  children  as  well  as  exacted  from  them, 
and  it  keeps  up  the  consciousness  that  manners  re- 


MANNERS  813 

present  faith  and,  in  a  sense,  duty  to  God  rather  than 
to  one's  neighbour. 

This,  too,  belongs  not  to  the  fleeting  things  of 
social  observance  but  to  the  deep  springs  of  conduct, 
and  its  teaching  may  be  summed  up  in  one  question. 
Is  not  well-instructed  devotion  to  Our  Lady  and  the 
understanding  of  the  Church's  ceremonies  a  school 
of  manners  in  which  we  may  learn  how  human  in- 
tercourse may  be  carried  on  vnth  the  most  perfect 
external  expressiveness  ?  Is  not  all  inattention  of 
mind  to  the  courtesies  of  life,  all  roughness  and 
slovenliness,  all  crude  un conventionality  which  is 
proud  of  its  self-assertion,  a  "  faUing  from  love  "  in 
seeking  self  ?  Will  not  the  instinct  of  devotion  and 
imitation  teach  within,  all  those  things  which  must 
otherwise  be  learned  by  painful  reiteration  from  vsrith- 
out ;  the  perpetual  give  up,  give  way,  give  thanks, 
make  a  fitting  answer,  pause,  think  of  others,  don't 
get  excited,  wait,  serve,  which  require  watchfulness 
and  self-sacrifice  ? 

Perhaps  in  the  last  year  or  two  of  education,  when 
our  best  opportunities  occur,  some  insight  will  be 
gained  into  the  deeper  meaning  of  all  these  things. 
It  may  then  be  understood  that  they  are  something 
more  than  arbitrary  rules ;  there  may  come  the  under- 
standing of  what  is  beautiful  in  human  intercourse, 
of  the  excellence  of  self-restraint,  the  loveliness  of 
perfect  service.  If  this  can  be  seen  it  will  tone  down 
all  that  is  too  uncontrolled  and  make  self-restraint 
acceptable,  and  v^ill  deal  with  the  conventions  of  life 
as  with  symbols,  poor  and  inarticulate  indeed,  but 
profoundly  significant,  of  things  as  they  ought  to  be. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN. 

**  In  die  Erd'  ist's  aufgenommeuj 
Gllicklich  ist  die  Form  gefiillt ; 
Wird's  auch  schon  zu  Tage  kommen, 
Dass  es  Fleiss  und  Kunst  vergilt  ? 

Wenn  der  Guss  misslang  ! 

Wenn  die  Form  zersprang  ! 
Ach,  vielleicht,  indem  wir  hoffen, 
Hat  uns  Unheil  schon  getroffen." 

Schiller,  "Das  Lied  von  der  Glocke  ". 

So  far  in  these  pages  the  education  of  girls  has  only 
been  considered  up  to  the  age  of  eighteen  or  so,  that 
is  to  the  end  of  the  ordinary  school-room  course.  At 
eighteen,  some  say  that  it  is  just  time  to  go  to  school, 
and  others  consider  that  it  is  more  than  time  to  leave 
it.  They  look  at  life  from  different  points  of  view. 
Some  are  eager  to  experience  everything  for  them- 
selves, and  as  early  as  possible  to  snatch  at  this  good 
thing,  life,  which  is  theirs,  and  make  what  they  can 
of  it,  believing  that  its  only  interest  is  in  what  lies 
beyond  the  bounds  of  childhood  and  a  life  of  regulated 
studies ;  they  want  to  begin  to  live.  Others  feel  that 
life  is  such  a  good  thing  that  every  year  of  longer 
preparation  fits  them  better  to  make  the  most  of  its 
opportunities,    and   others   again    are    anxious — for 

211 


HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  215 

a  particular  purpose,  sometimes,  and  very  rarely  for 
the  disinterested  love  of  it — to  undertake  a  course 
of  more  advanced  studies  and  take  active  part  in  the 
movement  "for  the  higher  education  of  women". 
The  first  will  advance  as  far  as  possible  the  date  of 
their  coming  out ;  the  second  will  delay  it  as  long  as 
they  are  allowed,  to  give  themselves  in  quiet  to  the 
studies  and  thought  which  grow  in  value  to  them 
month  by  month ;  the  third,  energetic  and  decided, 
buckle  on  their  armour  and  enter  themselves  at  uni- 
versities for  degrees  or  certificates  according  to  the 
facilities  offered. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  important  changes 
were  necessary  in  the  education  of  women.  About 
the  middle  of  the  last  century  it  had  reached  a  con- 
dition of  stagnation  from  the  passing  away  of  the  old 
system  of  instruction  before  anything  was  ready  to 
take  its  place.  With  very  few  exceptions,  and  those 
depended  entirely  on  the  families  from  which  they 
came,  girls  were  scarcely  educated  at  all.  The  old 
system  had  given  them  few  things  but  these  were  of 
value ;  manners,  languages,  a  little  music  and  domestic 
training  would  include  it  all,  with  perhaps  a  few 
notions  of  "  the  use  of  the  globes  "  and  arithmetic. 
But  when  it  dwindled  into  a  book  called  "  Mangnall's 
Questions,"  and  manners  declined  into  primness,  and 
domestic  training  lost  its  vigour,  then  artificiality  laid 
hold  of  it  and  lethargy  followed,  and  there  was  no 
more  education  for  "  young  ladies  ". 

In  a  characteristically  English  way  it  was  individual 
effort  which  came  to  change  the  face  of  things,  and 
honour  is  due  to  the  pioneers  who  went  first,  facing 


216        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

opposition  and  believing  in  the  possibilities  of  better 
things.  In  some  other  countries  the  State  would 
have  taken  the  initiative  and  has  done  so,  but  we 
have  our  own  ways  of  working  out  things,  "  I'aveugle 
et  tatonnante  infaillibilite  de  I'Angleterre,"  as  some 
one  has  called  it,  in  which  the  individual  goes  first, 
and  makes  trial  of  the  land,  and  often  experiences 
failure  in  the  first  attempts.  From  the  closing  years 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  "  Vindication  of 
the  Eights  of  Women "  was  published  by  Mary 
Wollstonecraft,  the  question  has  been  more  or  less 
in  agitation.  But  in  1848,  with  the  opening  of  Queen's 
College  in  London,  it  took  its  first  decided  step  forward 
in  the  direction  of  provision  for  the  higher  education 
of  women,  and  in  literature  it  was  much  in  the  air. 
Tennyson's  "Princess"  came  in  1847,  and  "Aurora 
Leigh"  from  Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning  in  1851> 
and  things  moved  onward  with  increasing  rapidity 
until  at  one  moment  it  seemed  like  a  rush  to  new 
goldfields.  One  university  after  another  has  granted 
degrees  to  women  or  degree  certificates  in  place  of 
the  degrees  which  were  refused  ;  women  are  resident 
students  at  some  universities  and  at  others  present 
themselves  on  equal  terms  with  men  for  examination. 
The  way  has  been  opened  to  them  in  some  professions 
and  in  many  spheres  of  activity  from  which  they  had 
been  formerly  excluded. 

One  advantage  of  the  English  mode  of  proceeding 
in  these  great  questions  is  that  the  situation  can  be 
reconsidered  from  time  to  time  without  the  discordant 
contentions  which  surround  any  proclamation  of  non- 
success  in  State  concerns.     We  feel  our  way  and  try 


HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  217 

this  and  that,  and  readjust  ourselves,  and  a  great  deal 
of  experimental  knowledge  has  been  gained  before 
any  great  interests  or  the  prestige  of  the  State  have 
been  involved.  These  questions  which  affect  a  whole 
people  directly  or  indirectly  require,  for  us  at  least, 
a  great  deal  of  experimenting  before  we  know  what 
suits  us.  We  are  not  very  amenable  to  systems,  or 
theories,  or  ready-made  schemes.  And  the  phenome- 
non of  tides  is  very  marked  in  all  that  we  under- 
take. There  is  a  period  of  advance  and  then  a  pause 
and  a  period  of  decline,  and  after  another  pause  the 
tide  rises  again.  It  may  perhaps  be  accounted  for  in 
part  by  the  very  fact  that  we  do  so  much  for  ourselves 
in  England,  and  look  askance  at  anything  which 
curtails  the  freedom  of  our  movements,  when  we  are 
in  earnest  about  a  question ;  but  this  independence  is 
rapidly  diminishing  under  the  more  elaborate  ad- 
ministration of  recent  years,  and  the  increase  of  State 
control  in  education.  Whatever  may  be  the  effect  of 
this  in  the  future  it  seems  as  if  there  were  at  present 
a  moment  of  reconsideration  as  to  whether  we  have 
been  quite  on  the  right  track,  in  the  pursuit  of  higher 
education  for  women,  ajid  a  certain  discontent  with 
what  has  been  achieved  so  far.  There  are  at  all 
events  not  many  who  are  cordially  pleased  with  the 
results.  Some  dissatisfaction  is  felt  as  to  the  position 
of  the  girl  students  in  residence  at  the  universities. 
They  cannot  share  in  any  true  sense  in  the  life  of  the 
universities,  but  only  exist  on  their  outskirts,  outside 
the  tradition  of  the  past,  a  modem  growth  tolerated 
rather  than  fostered  or  valued  by  the  authorities. 
This  creates  a  position  scarcely  enviable  in  itself, 


218        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

or  likely  to  communicate  that  particular  tone  which 
is  the  gift  of  the  oldest  English  universities  to  their 
sons.  Some  girl  students  have  undoubtedly  distin- 
guished themselves,  especially  at  Cambridge,  in  the 
line  of  studies ;  they  attained  what  they  sought,  but 
that  particular  gift  of  the  university  they  could  not 
attain.  It  is  lamented  that  the  number  of  really  dis- 
interested students  attending  Girton  and  Newnham 
is  small ;  the  same  complaint  is  heard  from  the  Halls 
for  women  at  Oxford ;  there  is  a  certain  want  of  con- 
fidence as  to  the  future  and  what  it  is  all  leading  to. 
To  women  with  a  professional  career  before  them  the 
degree  certificates  are  of  value,  and  the  degrees  from 
other  universities,  but  the  course  of  studies  itself  and 
its  mental  effect  is  conceded  by  many  to  be  disap- 
pointing. One  reason  may  be  that  the  characteristics 
of  girls'  work  affect  in  a  way  the  whole  movement. 
They  are  very  eager  and  impetuous  students,  but  in 
general  the  staying  power  is  short;  an  excessive 
energy  is  put  out  in  one  direction,  then  it  flags,  and 
a  new  beginning  is  made  towards  another  quarter. 
So  in  this  general  movement  there  have  been  suc- 
cessive stages  of  activity. 

The  higher  education  movement  has  gone  on  its 
own  course,  and  the  first  pioneers  had  clear  and  noble 
ideals.  Bedford  College,  the  growth  of  Cheltenham, 
the  beginnings  of  Newnham  and  Girton  Colleges, 
the  North  of  England  Ladies'  "Council  of  Educa- 
tion "  represented  them.  Now  that  the  movement 
has  left  the  port  and  gone  beyond  what  they  foresaw, 
it  has  met  the  difficulties  of  the  open  sea. 

Nursing  was  another  sphere   opened   about  the 


HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  219 

same  time,  to  meet  the  urgent  needs  felt  during  the 
Crimean  War;  it  was  admirably  planned  out  by 
Florence  Nightingale,  again  a  pioneer  with  loftiest 
ideals.  There  followed  a  rush  for  that  opening ;  it  has 
continued,  and  now  the  same  complaint  is  made  that 
it  is  an  outlet  for  those  whose  lives  are  not  to  their 
liking  at  home,  rather  than  those  who  are  conscious 
of  a  special  fitness  for  it  or  recognized  as  having  the 
particular  qualities  which  it  calls  for.  And  then  came 
the  development  of  a  new  variety  among  the  unem- 
ployed of  the  wealthier  classes,  the  "  athletic  girl ", 
Not  every  one  could  aspire  to  be  an  athletic  girl,  it  re- 
quires some  means,  and  much  time ;  but  it  is  there,  and 
it  is  part  of  the  emancipation  movement.  The  latest 
in  the  field  are  the  movements  towards  organization 
of  effort,  association  on  the  lines  of  the  German 
Fratienbund,  and  the  French  Mouvement  Feministe, 
and  beside  them,  around  them,  with  or  without  them, 
the  Women's  Suffrage  Movement,  militant  or  non- 
militant.  These  are  of  the  rising  tide,  and  each  tide 
makes  a  difference  to  our  coast-line,  in  some  places 
the  sea  gains,  in  others  the  land,  and  so  the  thinkers, 
for  and  against,  register  their  victories  and  defeats, 
and  the  face  of  things  continues  to  change  more  and 
more  rapidly. 

It  seems  an  ungracious  task,  unfair — perhaps  it 
seems  above  all  retrogade  and  ignorant, — to  express 
doubt  and  not  to  think  hopefully  of  a  cause  in  which 
80  many  lives  have  been  spent  with  singular  disin- 
terestedness and  self-devotion.  Yet  these  adverse 
thoughts  are  in  the  air,  not  only  amongst  those  who 
are  unable  to  win  in  the  race,  but  amongst  those  who 


220        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

have  won  and  also  amongst  those  who  look  out  upon 
it  all  with  undistracted  and  unbiassed  interest ;  older 
men  who  look  to  the  end  and  outcome  of  things,  to 
the  ultimate  direction  when  the  forces  have  adjusted 
themselves.  Those  who  think  of  the  next  generation 
are  not  quite  satisfied  with  what  is  being  done  for  our 
girls  or  by  them. 

Catholics  have  been  spurred  hotly  into  the  move- 
ment by  those  who  are  keenly  anxious  that  we 
should  not  be  left  behind,  but  should  show  ourselves 
able  to  be  with  the  best  in  all  these  things.  Perhaps 
at  the  stage  which  has  been  reached  we  have  more 
reason  than  others  to  be  dissatisfied  with  the  results 
of  success,  since  we  are  more  beset  than  others  by  the 
haunting  question — what  then  ?  For  those  who  have 
to  devote  themselves  to  the  cause  of  Catholic  educa- 
tion ,it  is  often  and  increasingly  necessary  to  win 
degrees  or  their  equivalents,  not  altogether  for  their 
own  value,  but  as  the  key  that  fits  the  lock,  for  the 
gates  to  the  domain  of  education  are  kept  locked  by 
the  State.  And  so  in  other  spheres  of  Cathohc  use- 
fulness the  key  may  become  more  and  more  necessary. 
But — may  it  be  suggested — in  their  own  education, 
a  degree  for  a  man  and  a  degree  for  a  girl  mean  very 
different  things,  even  if  the  degree  is  the  same.  For 
a  girl  it  is  the  certificate  of  a  course  of  studies.  For 
a  man  an  Oxford  or  Cambridge  degree  means  atmo- 
sphere unique  in  character,  immemorial  tradition, 
association,  all  kinds  of  interests  and  subtle  influences 
out  of  the  past,  the  impressiveness  of  numbers, 
among  which  the  individual  shows  in  very  modest 
proportions  indeed  whatever  may  be  his  gifts.     The 


HIGHER  EDUCATION  OP  WOMEN  621 

difference  is  that  of  two  worlds.  But  even  at  other 
universities  the  degree  means  more  to  a  man  if  it  is 
anything  beyond  a  mere  gate-key.  It  is  his  initial 
effort,  after  which  comes  the  full  stress  of  his  life's 
work.  For  a  girl,  except  in  the  rarest  cases,  it  is 
either  a  gate-key  or  a  final  effort,  either  her  life's 
work  takes  a  different  turn,  or  she  thinks  she  has 
had  enough.  The  line  of  common  studies  is  adapted 
for  man's  work  and  programme  of  life.  It  has  been 
made  to  fit  woman's  professional  work,  but  the  fit  is 
not  perfect.  It  has  a  marked  unfitness  in  its  adapta- 
tion for  women  to  the  real  end  of  higher  education,  or 
university  education,  which  is  the  perfecting  of  the 
individual  mind,  according  to  its  kind,  in  surroundings 
favourable  to  its  complete  development 

Atmosphere  is  a  most  important  element  at  all 
periods  of  education,  and  in  the  education  of  girls 
all-important,  and  an  atmosphere  for  the  higher  edu- 
cation of  girls  has  not  yet  been  created  in  the  univer- 
sities. The  girl  students  are  few,  their  position  is 
not  unassailable,  their  aims  not  very  well  defined, 
and  the  thing  which  is  above  all  required  for  the  in- 
tellectual development  of  girls — quiet  of  mind — is 
not  assured.  It  is  obvious  that  there  can  never  be 
great  tradition  and  a  past  to  look  back  to,  unless 
there  is  a  present,  and  a  beginning,  and  a  long  period 
of  growth.  But  everything  for  the  future  consists 
in  having  a  noble  beginning,  however  lowly,  true 
foundations  and  clear  aims,  and  this  we  have  not  yet 
secured.  It  seems  almost  as  if  we  had  begun  at  the 
wrong  end,  that  the  foundations  of  character  were 
not    made    strong    enough,   before  the  intellectual 


222        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

superstructure  began  to  be  raised — and  that  this 
gives  the  sense  of  insecurity.  An  unusual  strength 
of  character  would  be  required  to  lead  the  way  in 
living  worthily  under  such  difficult  circumstances  as 
have  been  created,  a  great  self-restraint  to  walk 
without  swerving  or  losing  the  track,  without  the 
controlling  machinery  of  university  rules  and  tradi- 
tions, without  experience,  at  the  most  adventurous 
age  of  life,  and  except  in  preparation  for  professional 
work  without  the  steadying  power  of  definite  duties 
and  obligations.  A  few  could  do  it,  but  not  many, 
and  those  chosen  few  would  have  found  their  way  in 
any  case.     The  past  bears  witness  to  this. 

But  the  past  as  a  whole  bears  other  testimony 
which  is  worth  considering  here.  Through  every 
vicissitude  of  women's  education  there  have  always 
been  the  few  who  were  exceptional  in  mental  and 
moral  strength,  and  they  have  held  on  their  way,  and 
achieved  a  great  deal,  and  left  behind  them  names 
deserving  of  honour.  Such  were  Maria  Gaetana 
Agnesi,  who  was  invited  by  the  Pope  and  the  univer- 
sity to  lecture  in  mathematics  at  Bologna  (and  de- 
clined the  invitation  to  give  herself  to  the  service  of 
the  poor),  and  Lucretia  Helena  Comaro  Piscopia, 
who  taught  philosophy  and  theology !  and  Laura 
Bassi  who  lectured  in  physics,  and  Clara  von  Schur- 
man  who  became  proficient  in  Greek,  Hebrew,  Syriac, 
and  Chaldaic  in  order  to  study  Scripture  "with 
greater  independence  and  judgment,"  and  the  Pirk- 
heimer  family  of  Nuremberg,  Caritas  and  Clara  and 
others,  whose  attainments  were  conspicuous  in  their 
day.     But  there  is  something  unfamiliar  about  all 


HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEK  223 

these  names;  they  do  not  belong  so  much  to  the 
history  of  the  world  as  to  the  curiosities  of  literature 
and  learning.  The  world  has  not  felt  their  touch 
upon  it ;  we  should  scarcely  miss  them  in  the  galleries 
of  history  if  their  portraits  were  taken  down. 

The  women  who  have  been  really  great,  whom  we 
could  not  spare  out  of  their  place  in  history,  have  not 
been  the  student  women  or  the  remarkably  learned. 
The  greatest  women  have  taken  their  place  in  the  life 
of  the  world,  not  in  its  libraries ;  their  strength  has 
been  in  their  character,  their  mission  civilization  in  its 
widest  and  loftiest  sense.  They  have  ruled  not  with 
the  "  Divine  right  of  kings,"  but  with  the  Divine  right 
of  queens,  which  is  quite  a  different  title,  undisputed 
and  secure  to  them,  if  they  do  not  abdicate  it  of 
themselves  or  drag  it  into  the  field  of  controversy 
to  be  matched  and  measured  against  the  Divine  or 
human  rights  of  kings.  "  The  heaven  of  heavens  is 
the  Lord's,  but  the  earth  He  has  given  to  the  children 
of  men,"  and  to  woman  He  seems  to  have  assigned 
the  borderland  between  the  two,  to  fit  the  one  for 
the  other  and  weld  the  links.  Hers  are  the  first 
steps  in  training  the  souls  of  children,  the  nurseries 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  (the  mothers  of  saints 
would  fill  a  portrait  gallery  of  their  own) ;  hers  the 
special  missions  of  peace  and  reconciliation  and  en- 
couragement, the  hidden  germs  of  such  great  enter- 
prises as  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith,  and  the  trust 
of  such  great  devotions  as  that  of  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment and  the  Sacred  Heart  to  be  brought  within  the 
reach  of  the  faithful.  The  names  of  Matilda  of 
Tuscany,  of  St.  Catherine  of  Siena,  of  Blessed  Joan 


224       THE  EDUCATION  OP  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

of  Arc,  of  Isabella  the  Catholic,  of  St.  Theresa  are 
representative,  amongst  others,  of  women  who  have 
fulfilled  public  missions  for  the  service  of  the  Church, 
and  of  Christian  people,  and  for  the  realization  of 
religious  ideals,  true  queens  of  the  borderland  be- 
tween both  worlds.  Others  have  reigned  in  their 
own  spheres,  in  families  or  solitudes,  or  cloistered  en- 
closures— as  the  two  Saints  Elizabeth,  Paula  and 
Eustochium  and  all  their  group  of  friends,  the  great 
Abbesses  Hildegarde,  Hilda,  Gertrude  and  others,  and 
the  chosen  line  of  foundresses  of  religious  orders — 
these  too  have  ruled  the  borderland,  and  their  in- 
fluence, direct  or  indirect,  has  all  been  in  the  same 
direction,  for  pacification  and  not  for  strife,  for  high 
aspiration  and  heavenly-mindedness,  for  faith  and 
hope  and  love  and  self-devotion,  and  all  those  things 
for  want  of  which  the  world  is  sick  to  death. 

But  the  kingdom  of  woman  is  on  that  borderland, 
and  if  she  comes  down  to  earth  to  claim  its  lowland 
provinces  she  exposes  herself  to  lose  both  worlds,  not 
securing  real  freedom  or  permanent  equality  in  one, 
and  losing  hold  of  some  of  the  highest  prerogatives 
of  the  other.  These  may  seem  to  be  cloudy  and 
visionary  views,  and  this  does  not  in  any  sense  pre- 
tend to  be  a  controversial  defence  of  them,  but  only  a 
suggestion  that  both  history  and  present  experience 
have  something  to  say  on  this  side  of  the  question, 
a  suggestion  also  that  there  are  two  spheres  of  in- 
fluence, requiring  different  qualities  for  their  perfect 
use,  as  there  are  two  forces  in  a  planetary  system. 
If  these  forces  attempted  to  work  on  one  line  the 
result  would  be  the  wreck  of  the  whole,  but  in  their 


HIGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  226 

balance  one  against  the  other,  apparently  contrary, 
in  reality  at  one,  the  equilibrium  of  the  whole  is 
secured.  One  is  for  motor  force  and  the  other  for 
central  control ;  both  working  in  concert  establish  the 
harmony  of  planetary  motion  and  give  permanent 
conditions  of  unity.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  uniformity 
tends  to  ultimate  loosening  of  unity  ;  diversity  estab- 
lishes that  balance  which  combines  freedom  with 
stability. 

Once  more  it  must  be  said  that  only  the  Catholic 
Church  can  give  perfect  adjustment  to  the  two  forces, 
as  she  holds  up  on  both  sides  ideals  which  make  for 
unity.  And  when  the  higher  education  of  women 
has  flowered  under  Catholic  influence,  it  has  had  a 
strong  basis  of  moral  worth,  of  discipline  and  control 
to  sustain  the  expansion  of  intellectual  life ;  and  with- 
out the  Church  the  higher  education  of  women  has 
tended  to  one-sidedness,  to  nonconformity  of  manners, 
of  character  and  of  mind,  to  extremes,  to  want  of 
balance,  and  to  loss  of  equilibrium  in  the  social  order, 
by  straining  after  uniformity  of  rights  and  aims  and 
occupations. 

So  with  regard  to  the  general  question  of  women's 
higher  education  may  it  be  suggested  that  the  moral 
training,  the  strengthening  of  character,  is  the  side 
which  must  have  precedence  and  must  accompany 
every  step  of  their  education,  making  them  fit  to  bear 
heavier  responsibilities,  to  control  their  own  larger 
independence,  to  stand  against  the  current  of  disin- 
tegrating influences  that  will  play  upon  them.  To 
be  fit  for  higher  education  calls  for  much  acquired 

self-restraint,  and  unfortunately  it  is  on  the  contrary 

15 


226        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

sometimes  sought  as  an  opening  for  speedier  emanci- 
pation from  control.  Those  who  seek  it  in  this  spirit 
are  of  all  others  least  fitted  to  receive  it,  for  the  aim 
is  false,  and  it  gives  a  false  movement  to  the  whole 
being.  Again,  when  it  is  entirely  dissociated  from 
the  realities  of  life,  it  tends  to  unfit  girls  for  any  but 
a  professional  career  in  which  they  will  have — at 
great  cost  to  their  own  well-being — to  renounce  their 
contact  with  those  primeval  teachers  of  experience. 

In  some  countries  they  have  found  means  of  com- 
bining both  in  a  modified  form  of  university  life  for 
girls,  and  in  this  they  are  wiser  than  we.    Buds  of  the 
same  tree  have  been  introduced  into  England,  but 
they  are  nipped  by  want  of  appreciation.     We  have 
still  to  look  to  our  foundations,  and  even  to  make  up 
our  minds  as  to  what  we  want.     Perhaps  the  next 
few  years  will  make  things  clearer.    But  in  the  mean- 
time there  is  a  great  deal  to  be  done ;  there  is  one 
lesson  that  every  one  concerned  with  girls  must  teach 
them,  and  induce  them  to  learn,  that  is  the  lesson  of 
J  self-command  and  decision.     Our  girls  are  in  danger 
of  drifting  and  floating  along  the  current  of  the  hour, 
passive  in  critical  moments,  wanting  in  perseverance 
to  carry  out  anything  that  requires   steady  effort. 
They  are  often  forced  to  walk  upon  slippery  ground ; 
temptations  sometimes  creep  on  insensibly,  and  at 
others  make  such  sudden  attacks  that  the  thing  of 
\  all  others  to  be  dreaded  for  girls  is  want  of  courage 
\  and  decision  of  character.     Those  render  them  the 
\  best  service  who  train  them  early  to  decide  for  them- 
\  selves,  to  say  yes  or  no  definitely,  to  make  up  their 
mind  promptly,  not  because  they  "  feel  like  it "  but 


mGHER  EDUCATION  OF  WOMEN  227 

for  a  reason  which  they  know,  and  to  keep  in  the 
same  mind  which  they  have  reasonably  made  up. 
Thus  they  may  be  fitted  by  higher  moral  education 
to  receive  higher  mental  training  according  to  their 
gifts  ;  but  in  any  case  they  will  be  prepared  by  it  to 
take  up  whatever  responsibilities  life  may  throw  upon 
them. 

The  future  of  girls  necessarily  remains  indeter- 
minate, at  least  until  the  last  years  of  their  edu- 
cation, but  the  long  indeterminate  time  is  not  lost  if 
it  has  been  spent  in  preparatory  training  of  mind,  and 
especially  in  giving  some  resistance  to  their  pliant  or 
wayward  characters.  Thus,  whether  they  devote 
themselves  to  the  well-being  of  their  own  families, 
or  give  themselves  to  volunteer  work  in  any  depart- 
ment, social  or  particular,  or  advance  in  the  direction 
of  higher  studies,  or  receive  any  special  call  from 
God  to  dedicate  their  gifts  to  His  particular  service, 
they  will  at  least  have  something  to  give ;  their  educa- 
tion will  have  been  "higher"  in  that  it  has  raised 
them  above  the  dead  level  of  mediocre  character  and 
will-power,  which  is  only  responsive  to  the  inclina- 
tion or  stimulus  of  the  moment,  but  has  no  definite 
plan  of  life.  It  may  be  that  as  far  as  exterior  work 
goes,  or  anything  that  has  a  name  to  it,  no  specified 
Ufe-work  will  be  offered  to  many,  but  it  is  a  pity  if 
they  regard  their  lives  as  a  failure  on  that  account. 

There  are  lives  whose  occupations  could  not  be  ex- 
pressed in  a  formula,  yet  they  are  precious  to  their 
surroundings  and  precious  in  themselves,  requiring 
more  steady  self-sacrifice  than  those  which  give  the 
stimulus  of  something  definite  to  do.     These  need 

16* 

/ 


228         THE  EDUCATION  OP  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

not  feel  themselves  cut  off  from  what  is  highest  in 
woman's  education,  if  they  realize  that  the  mind  has 
a  life  in  itself  and  makes  its  own  existence  there,  not 
selfishly,  but  indeed  in  a  peculiarly  selfless  way,  be- 
cause it  has  nothing  to  show  for  itself  but  some  small 
round  of  unimpressive  occupations  ;  some  perpetual 
call  upon  its  sympathies  and  devotion,  not  enough  to 
fill  a  life,  but  just  enough  to  prevent  it  from  turning 
to  anything  else.  Then  the  higher  life  has  to  be 
almost  entirely  within  itself,  and  no  one  is  there  to 
see  the  value  of  it  all,  least  of  all  the  one  who  lives 
it.  There  is  no  stimulus,  no  success,  no  brilliancy ; 
it  is  perhaps  of  all  lives  the  hardest  to  accept,  yet 
what  perfect  workmanship  it  sometimes  shows.  Its 
disappearance  often  reveals  a  whole  tissue  of  indirect 
influences  which  had  gone  forth  from  it ;  and  who 
can  tell  how  far  this  unregistered,  uncertificated 
higher  education  of  a  woman,  without  a  degree  and 
with  an  exceedingly  unassuming  opinion  of  itself, 
may  have  extended.  It  is  a  life  hard  to  accept, 
difficult  to  put  into  words  with  any  due  proportion 
to  its  worth,  but  good  and  beautiful  to  know,  and 
surely  "  rich  in  the  sight  of  God  ". 


CHAPTEK  XIV. 

CONCLUSION. 

'*  Far  out  the  strange  ships  go  : 

Their  broad  sails  flashing  red 
As  flame,  or  white  as  snow  : 

The  ships,  as  David  said. 
"  Winds  rush  and  waters  roll : 

Their  strength,  their  beauty,  brings 
Into  mine  heart  the  whole 

Magnificence  of  things." 

Lionel  Johnson. 

The  conclusion  is  only  an  opportunity  for  repeating 
how  much  there  is  still  to  be  said,  and  even  more  to 
be  thought  of  and  to  be  done,  in  the  great  problem 
and  work  of  educating  girls.  Every  generation  has 
to  face  the  same,  and  deals  with  it  in  a  characteristic 
way.  For  us  it  presents  particular  features  of  interest, 
of  hope  and  likewise  of  anxious  concern.  The  in- 
terest of  education  never  flags;  year  after  year  the 
material  is  new,  the  children  come  up  from  the  nursery 
to  school-room  life,  with  their  life  before  them,  their 
unbounded  possibilities  for  good,  their  confidence  and 
expectant  hopefulness  as  to  what  the  future  will  bring 
them.  We  have  our  splendid  opportunity  and  are 
greatly  responsible  for  its  use.  Each  precious  result 
of  education  when  the  girl  has  grown  up  and  leaves 
our  hands  is  thrown  into  the  furnace  to  be  tried — 

229 


230        THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

fired — like  glass  or  fine  porcelain.  Those  wlio  educate 
have,  at  a  given  moment,  to  let  go  of  their  control,  and 
however  solicitously  they  may  have  foreseen  and  pre- 
pared for  it  by  gradually  obliging  children  to  act>^with- 
out  coercion  and  be  responsible  for  themselves,  yet 
the  critical  moment  must  come  at  last  and  "every 
man's  work  shall  be  manifest,"  "the  fire  shall  try 
every  man's  work,  of  what  sort  it  is"  (1  Cor.  iii). 

Life  tries  the  work  of  education,  "  of  what  sort  it 
is  ".  If  it  stands  the  test  it  is  more  beautiful  than  be- 
fore, its  colours  are  fixed.  If  it  breaks,  and  some  will 
inevitably  break  in  the  trial,  a  Catholic  education  has 
left  in  the  soul  a  way  to  recovery.  Nothing,  with  us, 
is  hopelessly  shattered,  we  always  know  how  to  make 
things  right  again.  But  if  we  can  we  must  secure 
the  character  against  breaking,  our  effort  in  education 
must  be  to  make  something  that  will  last,  and  for 
this  we  must  often  sacrifice  present  success  in  con- 
sideration of  the  future,  we  must  not  want  to  see 
results.  A  small  finished  building  is  a  more  sightly 
object  than  one  which  is  only  beginning  to  rise  above 
its  foundations,  yet  we  should  choose  that  our  educa- 
tional work  should  be  like  the  second  rather  than  the 
first,  even  though  it  has  reached  "the  ugly  stage," 
though  it  has  its  disappointments  and  troubles  before 
it,  with  its  daily  risks  and  the  uncertainty  of  ultimate 
success.  But  it  is  a  truer  work,  and  a  better  intro- 
duction to  the  realities  of  life. 

A  "finished  education"  is  an  illusion  or  else  a 
lasting  disappointment ;  the  very  word  implies  a  con- 
dition of  mind  which  is  opposed  to  any  further  de- 
velopment, a  condition  of  self-satisfaction.     What 


CONCLUSION  231 

then  shall  we  call  a  well-educated  girl,  whom  we 
consider  ready  for  the  opportunities  and  responsi- 
bilities of  her  new  life  ?  An  equal  degree  of  fitness 
cannot  be  expected  from  all,  the  difference  between 
those  who  have  ten  talents  and  those  who  have  only 
two  will  always  be  felt.  Those  who  have  less  will 
be  well  educated  if  they  have  acquired  spirit  enough 
not  to  be  discontented  or  disheartened  at  feeling  that 
their  resources  are  small ;  if  we  have  been  able  to  in- 
spire them  with  hope  and  plodding  patience  it  will  be 
a  great  thing,  for  this  unconquerable  spirit  of  per- 
severance does  not  fail  in  the  end,  it  attains  to 
something  worthy  of  all  honour,  it  gives  us  people  of 
trust  whose  character  is  equal  to  their  responsibilities, 
and  that  is  no  little  thing  in  any  position  of  life ;  and, 
if  to  this  steadiness  of  will  is  added  a  contented  mind, 
it  will  always  be  superior  to  its  circumstances  and  will 
not  cease  to  develop  in  the  line  of  its  best  qualities. 

It  is  not  these  who  disappoint — in  fact  they  often 
give  more  than  was  expected  of  them.  It  is  those 
of  great  promise  who  are  more  often  disappointing 
in  failing  to  realize  what  they  might  do  with  their 
richer  endowments ;  they  fail  in  strength  of  will. 

Now  if  we  want  a  girl  to  grow  to  the  best  that  a 
woman  ought  to  be  it  is  in  two  things  that  we  must 
estabHsh  her  fundamentally — quiet  of  mind  and  firm- 
ness of  will.  Quiet  of  mind  equally  removed  from 
stagnation  and  from  excitement.  In  stagnation  her 
mind  is  open  to  the  seven  evil  spirits  who  came  into 
the  house  that  was  empty  and  swept ;  under  excite- 
ment it  is  carried  to  extremes  in  any  direction  which 
occupies  its  attention  at  the  time.     The  best  minds 


232         THE  EDUCATION  OF  CATHOLIC  GIRLS 

of  women  are  quiet,  intuitive,  and  full  of  intellectual 
sympathies.  They  are  not  in  general  made  for 
initiation  and  creation,  but  initiation  and  creation 
lean  upon  them  for  understanding  and  support.  And 
their  support  must  be  moral  as  well  as  mental,  for 
this  they  need  firmness  of  will  Support  cannot  be 
given  to  others  without  an  inward  support  which 
does  not  fail  towards  itself  in  critical  moments.  The 
great  victories  of  women  have  been  won  by  this  in- 
ward support,  this  firmness  and  perseverance  of  will 
based  upon  faith.  The  will  of  a  woman  is  strong, 
not  in  the  measure  of  what  it  manifests  without,  as 
of  what  it  reserves  within,  that  is  to  say  in  the 
moderation  of  its  own  impulsiveness  and  emotional 
tendency,  in  the  self-discipline  of  perseverance,  the 
subordination  of  personal  interest  to  the  good  of 
whatever  depends  upon  it  for  support.  It  is  great  in 
self-devotion,  and  in  this  is  found  its  only  lasting 
independence. 

To  give  much  and  ask  little  in  personal  return  is 
independence  of  the  highest  kind.  But  faith  alone 
can  make  it  possible.  The  Catholic  Faith  gives  that 
particular  orientation  of  mind  which  is  independent 
of  this  world,  knowing  the  account  which  it  must 
give  to  God.  To  some  it  is  duty  and  the  reign  of 
conscience,  to  others  it  is  detachment  and  the  reign 
of  the  love  of  God,  the  joyful  flight  of  the  soul  to- 
wards heavenly  things.  The  particular  name  matters 
little,  it  has  a  centre  of  gravity.  "  As  everlasting 
foundations  upon  a  solid  rock,  so  the  commandments 
of  God  in  the  heart  of  a  holy  woman."  ^ 
^  EccluB.  XXVI.  24. 


APPENDIX  I. 

EXTRACT  FROM  "THE  BLESSED  SACRAMENT" 
BY  FATHER  FABEB. 

Book  III.     Seo.  VH. 

Let  U8  put  aside  the  curtain  of  vindicative  fire,  and  see 
what  this  pain  of  loss  is  like ;  I  say,  what  it  is  like,  for  it 
fortunately  surpasses  human  imagination  to  conceive  its 
dire  reality.  Suppose  that  we  could  see  the  huge  planets 
and  the  ponderous  stars  whirling  their  terrific  masses 
with  awful,  and  if  it  might  be  so,  clamorous  velocity, 
and  thundering  through  the  fields  of  unresisting  space  with 
furious  gigantic  momentum,  such  as  the  mighty  avalanche 
most  feebly  figures,  and  thus  describing  with  chafing 
eccentricities  and  frightful  deflections,  their  mighty  centre- 
seeking  and  centre-flying  circles,  we  should  behold  in  the 
nakedness  of  its  tremendous  operations  the  Divine  law  of 
gravitation.  Thus  in  like  manner  should  we  see  the  true 
relations  between  God  and  ourselves,  the  true  meaning 
and  worth  of  His  beneficent  presence,  if  we  could  behold  a 
lost  soul  at  the  moment  of  its  final  and  judicial  reproba- 
tion, a  few  moments  after  its  separation  from  the  body  and 
in  all  the  strength  of  its  disembodied  vigour  and  the  fierce- 
ness of  its  penal  immortality. 

No  beast  of  the  jungle,  no  chimera  of  heathen  imagina- 
tion, could  be  so  appalling.  No  sooner  is  the  impassable 
bar  placed  between  God  and  itself  than  what  theologians 

233 


234  APPENDIX  I 

call  the  creature's  radical  love  of  the  Creator  breaks  out  in 
a  perfect  tempest  of  undying  efforts.  It  seeks  its  centre 
and  it  cannot  reach  it.  It  bounds  up  towards  God,  and 
is  dashed  down  again.  It  thrusts  and  beats  against  the 
granite  walls  of  its  prison  with  such  incredible  force,  that 
the  planet  must  be  strong  indeed  whose  equilibrium  is  not 
disturbed  by  the  weight  of  that  spiritual  violence.  Yet  the 
great  law  of  gravitation  is  stronger  still,  and  the  planet 
swings  smoothly  through  its  beautiful  ether.  Nothing  can 
madden  the  reason  of  the  disembodied  soul,  else  the  view 
of  the  desirableness  of  God  and  the  inefficacious  attractions 
of  the  glorious  Divinity  would  do  so. 

Up  and  down  its  burning  cage  the  many-facultied  and 
mightily  intelligenced  spirit  wastes  its  excruciating  immor- 
tality in  varying  and  ever  varying  still,  always  beginning 
and  monotonously  completing,  like  a  caged  beast  upon  its 
iron  tether,  a  threefold  movement,  which  is  not  three 
movements  successively,  but  one  triple  movement  all  at 
once.  In  rage  it  would  fain  get  at  God  to  seize  Him,  de- 
throne Him,  murder  Him,  and  destroy  Him ;  in  agony  it 
would  fain  suffocate  its  own  interior  thirst  for  God,  which 
parches  and  burns  it  with  all  the  frantic  horrors  of  a  per- 
fectly self-possessed  frenzy;  and  in  fury  it  would  fain 
break  its  tight  fetters  of  gnawing  fire  which  pin  down  its 
radical  love  of  the  beautiful  Sovereign  Good,  and  drag  it 
ever  back  with  cruel  wrench  from  its  desperate  propension 
to  its  uncreated  Centre.  In  the  mingling  of  these  three 
efforts  it  lives  its  life  of  endless  horrors.  Portentous  as  is 
the  vehemence  with  which  it  shoots  forth  its  imprecations 
against  God,  they  fall  faint  and  harmless,  far  short  of  His 
tranquU,  song-surrounded  throne. 

Four  views  of  its  own  hideous  state  revolve  around  the 
lost  soul,  like  the  pictures  of  some  ghastly  show.     One 


APPENDIX  I  236 

while  it  sees  the  million  times  ten  million  genera  and 
species  of  pains  of  sense  which  meet  and  form  a  loathsome 
union  with  this  vast  central  pain  of  loss.  Another  while 
all  the  multitude  of  graces,  the  countless  kind  providences, 
which  it  has  wasted  pass  before  it,  and  generate  that  un- 
dying worm  of  remorse  of  which  Our  Saviour  speaks. 
Then  comes  a  keen  but  joyless  view,  a  calculation,  but 
only  a  bankrupt's  calculation,  of  the  possibility  of  gains  for 
ever  forfeited,  of  all  the  grandeur  and  ocean-like  vastness 
of  the  bliss  which  it  has  lost.  Last  of  all  comes  before  it 
the  immensity  of  God,  to  it  so  unconsoling  and  so  unprofit- 
able; it  is  not  a  picture,  it  is  only  a  formless  shadow, 
yet  it  knows  instinctively  that  it  is  God.  With  a  cry  that 
should  be  heard  creation  through,  it  rushes  upon  Him,  and 
it  knocks  itself,  spirit  as  it  is,  against  material  terrors.  It 
clasps  the  shadow  of  God,  and,  lo !  it  embraces  keen  flames. 
It  runs  up  to  Him  but  it  has  encountered  only  fearful 
demons.  It  leaps  the  length  of  its  chain  after  Him,  but 
it  has  only  dashed  into  an  affrighting  crowd  of  lost  and 
cursed  souls.  Thus  is  it  ever  writhing  under  the  sense  of 
being  its  own  executioner.  Thus  there  is  not  an  hour  of 
our  summer  sunshine,  not  a  moment  of  our  sweet  starlight, 
not  a  vibration  of  our  moonlit  groves,  not  an  undulation 
of  odorous  air  from  our  flowerbeds,  not  a  pulse  of  delicious 
sound  from  music  or  song  to  us,  but  that  hapless  unpiti- 
able  soul  is  ever  falling  sick  afresh  of  the  overwhelming 
sense  that  all  around  it  is  eternal 

EXTRACT  FROM  "  THE  CREATOR  AND  THE  CREATURE  ". 
BY  FATHER  FABEB. 

Book  II.     Ch.  V. 

Yet  the  heavenly  joys  of  the  illuminated  understanding 
far  transcend  the  thrills  of  the  glorified  senses.     The  con- 


236  APPENDIX  I 

templation  of  heavenly  beauty  and  of  heavenly  truth  must 
indeed  be  beyond  all  our  earthly  standards  of  comparison. 
The  clearness  and  instantaneousness  of  all  the  mental  pro- 
cesses, the  complete  exclusion  of  error,  the  unbroken 
serenity  of  the  vision,  the  facility  of  embracing  whole 
worlds  and  systems  in  one  calm,  searching,  exhausting 
glance,  the  Divine  character  and  utter  holiness  of  all  the 
truths  presented  to  the  view — these  are  broken  words 
which  serve  at  least  to  show  what  we  may  even  now  in- 
distinctly covet  in  that  bright  abode  of  everlasting  bliss. 
Intelligent  intercourse  with  the  angelic  choirs,  and  the  in- 
cessant transmission  of  the  Divine  splendours  through 
them  to  our  minds,  cannot  be  thought  of  without  our  per- 
ceiving that  the  keen  pleasures  and  deep  sensibilities  of 
the  intellectual  world  on  earth  are  but  poor,  thin,  unsub- 
stantial shadows  of  the  exulting  immortal  life  of  our  glorified 
minds  above. 

The  very  expansion  of  the  faculties  of  the  soul,  and 
the  probable  disclosure  in  it  of  many  new  faculties  which 
have  no  object  of  exercise  in  this  land  of  exile,  are  in 
themselves  pleasures  which  we  can  hardly  picture  to  our- 
selves. To  be  rescued  from  all  narrowness,  and  for  ever ; 
to  possess  at  all  times  a  perfect  consciousness  of  our  whole 
undying  selves,  and  to  possess  and  retain  that  self-con- 
sciousness in  the  bright  light  of  God ;  to  feel  the  super- 
natural corroborations  of  the  light  of  glory,  securing  to  us 
powers  of  contemplation  such  as  the  highest  mystical  theo- 
logy can  only  faintly  and  feebly  imitate ;  to  expatiate  in 
God,  delivered  from  the  monotony  of  human  things ;  to  be 
securely  poised  in  the  highest  flights  of  our  immense 
capacities,  without  any  sense  of  weariness,  or  any  chance 
of  a  reaction ;  who  can  think  out  for  himself  the  realities 
of  a  life  like  this  ? 


APPENDIX  I  237 

Yet  what  is  all  this  compared  with  one  hour,  one  of 
earth's  short  hours,  of  the  magnificences  of  celestial  love  ? 
Oh  to  turn  our  whole  souls  upon  God,  and  souls  thus  ex- 
panded and  thus  glorified  ;  to  have  our  affections  multiplied 
and  magnified  a  thousandfold,  and  then  girded  up  and 
strengthened  by  immortality  to  bear  the  beauty  of  God  to 
be  unveiled  before  us ;  and  even  so  strengthened,  to  be 
rapt  by  it  into  a  sublime  amazement  which  has  no  simili- 
tude on  earth;  to  be  carried  away  by  the  inebriating 
torrents  of  love,  and  yet  be  firm  in  the  most  steadfast 
adoration ;  to  have  passionate  desire,  yet  without  tumult 
or  disturbance;  to  have  the  most  bewildering  intensity 
along  with  an  unearthly  calmness;  to  lose  ourselves  in 
God,  and  then  find  ourselves  there  more  our  own  than 
ever ;  to  love  rapturously  and  to  be  loved  again  still  more 
rapturously,  and  then  for  our  love  to  grow  more  rapturous 
still,  and  again  the  return  of  our  love  to  be  still  outstrip- 
ping what  we  gave,  and  then  for  us  to  love  even  yet  more 
and  more  and  more  rapturously,  and  again,  and  again,  and 
again  to  have  it  so  returned,  and  still  the  great  waters  of 
God's  love  to  flow  over  us  and  overwhelm  us  until  the 
vehemence  of  our  impassioned  peace  and  the  daring  vigour 
of  our  yearning  adoration  reach  beyond  the  sight  of  our 
most  venturous  imagining ;  what  is  all  this  but  for  our 
souls  to  live  a  life  of  the  most  intelligent  entrancing  ecstasy, 
and  yet  not  be  shivered  by  the  fiery  heat  ?  There  have 
been  times  on  earth  when  we  have  caught  our  own  hearts 
loving  God,  and  there  was  a  flash  of  light,  and  then  a  tear, 
and  after  that  we  lay  down  to  rest  O  happy  that  we 
were!  Worlds  could  not  purchase  from  us  even  the 
memory  of  those  moments.  And  yet  when  we  think  of 
heaven,  we  may  own  that  we  know  not  yet  what  manner 
of  thing  it  is  to  love  the  Lord  Our  God. 


APPENDIX  II. 

From  a  Pastoral  Letter  of  His  Grace  the  Archbishop  of 
Westminster,  written  when  Bishop  of  Southwark. 
Quinquagesima  Sunday,  1901. 

.  .  .  EvEBY  age  has  its  own  difficulties  and  dangers.  At 
the  present  day  we  are  exposed  to  temptations  which  at 
the  beginning  of  the  last  century  were  of  comparatively 
small  account.  It  will  be  so  always.  Every  new  de- 
velopment of  human  activity,  every  invention  of  human 
ingenuity,  is  meant  by  God  to  serve  to  His  honour,  and  to 
the  good  of  His  creatures.  We  must  accept  them  all 
gratefully  as  the  results  of  the  intelligence  which  He  has 
been  pleased  to  bestow  upon  us.  At  the  same  time  the 
experience  of  every  age  teaches  us  that  the  weakness  and 
perversity  of  many  wrest  to  evil  purposes  these  gifts, 
which  in  the  Divine  intention  should  seiva  only  for  good. 
It  is  against  the  perverted  use  of  two  of  God's  gifts  that 
we  would  very  earnestly  warn  you  to-day. 

During  the  last  century  the  power  that  men  have  of 
conveying  their  thoughts  to  others  has  been  multiplied 
incredibly  by  the  facility  of  the  printed  word.  Thoughts 
uttered  in  speech  or  sermon  were  given  but  to  a  few 
hundreds  who  came  within  the  reach  of  the  human  voice. 
Even  when  they  were  communicated  to  manuscript  they 
came  to  the  knowledge  of  very  few.  What  a  complete 
change  has  now  been  wrought.     In  the  shortest  space  of 

238 


APPENDIX  n  239 

time  men's  ideas  are  conveyed  all  over  the  world,  and  they 
may  become  at  once  a  power  for  good  or  for  evil  in  every 
place,  and  millions  who  have  never  seen  or  heard  him 
whose  thoughts  they  read,  are  brought  to  some  extent 
under  his  influence. 

Again  at  the  present  day,  all  men  read,  more  or  lesa 
The  number  of  those  who  are  unable  to  do  so  is  rapidly 
diminishing,  and  a  man  who  cannot  read  will  soon  be 
practically  unknown.  As  a  matter  of  fact  men  read  a 
great  deal,  and  they  are  very  largely  influenced  by  what 
they  read. 

Thus  the  multiplicity  of  printed  matter,  and  the  wide- 
spread power  of  reading  have  created  a  situation  fraught 
with  immense  possibilities  for  good,  but  no  less  exposed  to 
distinct  occasions  of  evil  and  of  sin.  It  is  to  such  occasions 
of  sin,  dear  children  in  Jesus  Christ,  that  we  desire  to 
direct  your  attention  this  Lent. 

Every  gift  of  God  brings  with  it  responsibility  on  our 
part  in  the  use  that  we  make  of  it.  The  supreme  gift  of 
intelUgence  and  free-will  are  powers  to  enable  us  to  love 
and  serve  God,  but  we  are  able  to  use  them  to  dishonour 
and  outrage  Him.  So  with  all  the  other  faculties  that 
flow  from  these  two  great  gifts.  Beading  and  books  have 
brought  many  souls  nearer  to  their  Creator.  Many  souls, 
on  the  other  hand,  have  been  ruined  eternally  by  the  books 
which  they  have  read.  It  is  clearly,  therefore,  of  import- 
ance to  us  to  know  how  to  use  wisely  these  gifts  that  we 
possess. 

The  Holy  Catholic  Church,  the  Guardian  of  God's 
Truth,  and  the  unflinching  upholder  of  the  moral  law,  has 
been  always  alive  to  her  duty  in  this  matter,  and  from  the 
earliest  times  has  claimed  and  exercised  the  right  of  point- 
ing oat  to  her  children  books  that  are  dangerous  to  faith 


240  APPENDIX  II 

or  virtue.  This  is  one  of  the  duties  of  bishops,  and,  in  a 
most  special  manner,  of  the  Sacred  Congregation  of  the 
Index.  And,  though  at  the  present  day,  owing  to  the 
decay  of  religious  belief,  this  authority  cannot  be  exercised 
in  the  same  way  as  of  old,  it  is  on  that  very  account  all 
the  more  necessary  for  us  to  bear  well  in  mind,  and  to 
carry  out  fully  in  practice,  the  great  unchanging  principles 
on  which  the  legislation  of  the  Church  in  this  matter  has 
been  ever  based. 

You  are  bound,  dear  children  in  Jesus  Christ,  to  guard 
yourselves  against  all  those  things  which  may  be  a  source 
of  danger  to  your  faith  or  purity  of  heart.  You  have  no 
right  to  tamper  with  the  one  or  the  other.  Therefore,  in 
the  first  place,  it  is  the  duty  of  Catholics  to  abstain  from 
reading  all  such  books  as  are  written  directly  with  the  ob- 
ject of  attacking  the  Christian  Faith,  or  undermining  the 
foundations  of  morality.  If  men  of  learning  and  position 
are  called  upon  to  read  such  works  in  order  to  refute  them, 
they  must  do  so  with  the  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes. 
They  must  fortify  themselves  by  prayer  and  spiritual  read- 
ing, even  as  men  protect  themselves  from  contagion,  where 
they  have  to  enter  a  poisonous  atmosphere.  Mere  curi- 
osity, still  less  the  desire  to  pass  as  well  informed  in  every 
newest  theory,  will  not  sufi&ce  to  justify  us  in  exposing 
ourselves  to  so  grave  a  risk. 

Again,  there  are  many  books,  especially  works  of  fiction, 
in  which  false  principles  are  often  indirectly  conveyed, 
and  by  which  the  imagination  may  be  dangerously  excited. 
"With  regard  to  such  reading,  it  is  very  hard  to  give  one 
definite  rule,  for  its  effect  on  different  characters  varies  so 
much.  A  book  most  dangerous  to  one  may  be  almost 
without  harm  to  another,  on  account  of  the  latter's  want 
of  vivid  imagination.     Again,  a  book  full  of  danger  to  the 


APPENDIX  11  341 

youth  or  girl  may  be  absolutely  without  efifect  on  one  of 
maturer  years.  The  one  and  only  rule  is  to  be  absolutely 
loyal  and  true  to  our  conscience,  and  if  the  voice  of  con- 
science is  not  sufficiently  distinct,  to  seek  guidance  and  ad- 
vice from  those  upon  whom  we  can  rely,  and  above  all, 
from  the  director  of  our  souls.  If  we  take  up  a  book,  and 
we  find  that,  without  foolish  scruple,  it  is  raising  doubts  in 
our  mind  or  exciting  our  imagination  in  perilous  directions, 
then  we  must  be  brave  enough  to  close  it,  and  not  open  it 
again.  If  our  weakness  is  such  that  we  cannot  resist 
temptation,  which  unforeseen  may  come  upon  us,  then  it 
is  our  duty  not  to  read  any  book  the  character  of  which  is 
quite  unknown  to  us.  If  any  such  book  is  a  source  of 
temptation  to  us,  we  must  shun  it,  if  we  wish  to  do  our 
duty  to  God.  If  our  reading  makes  us  discontented  with 
the  lot  in  life  which  Divine  Providence  has  assigned  to  us, 
if  it  leads  us  to  neglect  or  do  ill  the  duties  of  our  position, 
if  we  find  that  our  trust  in  God  is  lessening  and  our  love 
of  this  world  growing,  in  all  these  cases  we  must  examine 
ourselves  with  the  greatest  care,  and  banish  from  ourselves 
any  book  which  is  having  these  evil  effects  upon  us. 

Lastly  there  is  an  immense  amount  of  literature,  mostly 
of  an  ephemeral  character,  which  almost  of  necessity  enters 
very  largely  into  our  lives  at  the  present  day.  We  cannot 
characterize  it  as  wholly  bad,  though  its  influence  is  not 
entirely  good,  but  it  is  hopeless  to  attempt  to  counteract 
what  is  harmful  in  it  by  any  direct  means.  The  news- 
papers and  magazines  of  the  hour  are  often  without  ap- 
parent harm,  and  yet  very  often  their  arguments  are  based 
on  princpiles  which  are  imsound,  and  their  spirit  is  frankly 
worldly,  and  entirely  opposed  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  of  the  Gospel.  Still  more  when  the  Catholic 
Church  and  the  Holy  See  are  in  question,  we  know  full 


242  APPENDIX  II 

well,  and  the  most  recent  experience  has  proved  it,  that 
they  are  often  consciously  or  unconsciously  untruthful. 
Even  when  their  misrepresentations  have  been  exposed, 
in  spite  of  the  boasted  fairness  of  our  country,  we  know 
that  we  must  not  always  expect  a  withdrawal  of  false 
news,  still  less  adequate  apology.  Constant  reading  of 
this  character  cannot  but  weaken  the  Catholic  sense  and 
instinct,  and  engender  in  their  place  a  worldly  and  critical 
spirit  most  harmful  in  every  way,  unless  we  take  means 
to  counteract  it.  What  are  these  means  ?  A  place  must 
be  found  in  your  lives,  dear  children  in  Jesus  Christ,  for 
reading  of  a  distinctly  Catholic  character.  You  must 
endeavour  to  know  the  actual  life  and  doings  of  the  Catholic 
Church  at  home  and  abroad  by  the  reading  of  Catholic 
periodical  literature.  You  must  have  at  hand  books  of 
instruction  in  the  Catholic  Faith,  for  at  least  occasional 
reading,  so  as  to  keep  alive  in  your  minds  the  full  teach- 
ing of  the  Church.  You  must  give  due  place  to  strictly 
spiritual  reading,  such  as  the  "  Holy  Gospels,"  "  The 
Following  of  Christ,"  "The  Introduction  to  a  Devout 
Life"  by  St.  Francis  of  Sales,  and  the  lives  of  the 
Saints,  which  are  now  published  in  every  form  and  at 
every  price.  It  is  not  your  duty  to  abstain  from  reading 
all  the  current  literature  of  the  day,  but  it  is  your  duty  to 
nourish  your  Catholic  mental  life  by  purely  Catholic  litera- 
ture. The  more  you  read  of  secular  works,  the  more 
urgent  is  your  duty  to  give  a  sufficient  place  to  those  also, 
which  will  directly  serve  you  in  doing  your  duty  to  God 
and  in  saving  your  soul.  Assuredly  one  of  the  most  press- 
ing duties  at  the  present  day  is  to  recognize  fully  our 
personal  and  individual  responsibility  in  this  matter  of 
reading,  and  to  examine  our  conscience  closely  to  see  how 
we  are  acquitting  ourselves  of  it. 


APPENDIX  II  S43 

Before  we  leave  this  subject,  we  wish  to  ask  all  those 
among  you  dear  ohildren  in  Jesus  Christ,  who,  whether  as 
fathers  and  mothers,  or  as  members  of  religious  institutes, 
or  masters  and  mistresses  in  schools,  are  charged  with  the 
education  of  the  young,  to  do  all  in  your  power  to  train 
those  committed  to  you  to  a  wise  and  full  understanding 
of  this  matter  of  reading,  and  to  a  realization  of  its  enor- 
mous power  for  good  and  harm,  and,  therefore,  to  a  sense 
of  the  extreme  responsibility  attaching  to  it.  Make  them 
understand  that,  while  all  are  able  to  read,  all  things  are 
not  to  be  read  by  all ;  that  this  power,  like  every  power, 
may  be  abused,  and  that  we  have  to  learn  how  to  use  it 
with  due  restraint.  While  they  are  with  you  and  gladly 
subject  to  your  influence,  train  their  judgment  and  their 
taste  in  reading,  so  that  they  may  know  what  is  good  and 
true,  and  know  how  to  turn  from  what  is  evil  and  false. 
Such  a  trained  and  cultivated  judgment  is  the  best  protec- 
tion that  you  can  bestow  upon  them.  Some  dangers 
must  be  overcome  by  flight,  but  there  are  far  more,  especi- 
ally at  the  present  day,  which  must  be  faced,  and  then 
overcome.  It  is  part  of  your  great  vocation  to  prepare 
and  equip  these  children  to  be  brave  and  to  conquer  in 
this  fight.  Gradually,  therefore,  accustom  them  to  the 
dangers  they  may  meet  in  reading.  Train  their  judgment, 
strengthen  their  wills,  make  them  loyal  to  conscience,  and 
then,  trusting  in  God's  grace,  give  them  to  their  work  in 
life. 


abbbdeen:  the  dnivkrsitt  fbxss 


DATE  DUE 

CAVLORD 

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